The Society of Lifestyle Medicine of Nigeria (SOLONg) and other stakeholders have tasked the Federal Government and other stakeholders to develop a National Diabetes Prevention Program.
They also called on the Ministry of Labour to lend a voice to the global movement in Lifestyle Medicine to observe a “Healthy Lifestyle Day” every year to raise awareness of healthy living as emphasised in the core pillars of Lifestyle Medicine across the country.
They made this call at the end of the 2nd Annual General Meeting & Scientific Conference of the Society of Lifestyle Medicine of Nigeria (SOLONg) held at the State House Auditorium, Aso Presidential Villa, Abuja.
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A communique issued after the conference and made available to TribuneOnline on Thursday said the Society of Lifestyle Medicine of Nigeria should reach out to all stakeholders including the Federal Ministry of Health, to develop a National Diabetes Prevention Program.
It also declared that SOLONg should seek and maintain on-going collaborations with other stakeholders including the West Africa and National Post-Graduate Medical Colleges to harmonise training and Certification in Lifestyle Medicine in Nigeria and West Africa.
The communique signed by the President of SOLONg, Dr Ifeoma Monye, and the General Secretary, Dr Mimi Osanwoyi, also called on the government to invest in the development of Lifestyle Medicine as a panacea to huge healthcare costs in the contemporary society.
It advised the government at national and state levels to sponsor and support health research in the area of Lifestyle medicine to provide statistics to prove the efficacy of Lifestyle medicine and foster lifestyle changes among Nigerians.
Besides, the communique said the government at national and state levels should support the establishment of lifestyle medicine clinics in the hospitals to promote research and documentation of lifestyle medicine practices.
This, according to the association will ensure further development of the speciality and effectively communicate the efficacy of the same.
It called on government and relevant educational regulatory bodies to implement the inclusion of Lifestyle medicine modules to undergraduate and postgraduate study programs in health; while Clinicians should also engage in continuing lifestyle medicine training programs.
It called on Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to address the issue of self-care among medical practitioners to reduce the threat to qualitative healthcare services from the paucity of doctors due to chronic lifestyle-related illnesses and premature deaths.
It pointed out that there is the need to understand the root causes of sudden unexpected deaths amongst Nigerian doctors, adding that all other affiliate medical associations and societies should also be advised to do same.
The association also called on national and subnational governments along with collaborators in the community to uplift the message of Lifestyle medicine by providing and promoting
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