Kampala — LOCAL and international health experts want Uganda and other developing countries to curb tobacco smoking and reduce salt intake to stem cancer, diabetes, respiratory and heart diseases.

The ailments classified as lifestyle diseases are fast becoming epidemics and will account for 70% of deaths in a few years the experts warned. They said that the problem is global but the hardest-hit are are the poorest and the middle-income countries of Africa and Asia.

The diseases, the experts said are increasingly hitting at the most productive age group of 15 to 59, adversely impacting on the economy, through the population's ill health and deaths.

The experts were meeting in an International Summit on Chronic Disease at the Kampala Serena Hotel. The two-day summit was sponsored by the Aga Khan University and organised by the Uganda Government and the World Health Organisation.