Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, will today outline the government's plans to address the burden of the emerging non-communicable diseases (NCDs) pandemic.

"The NCDs, otherwise known as diseases of lifestyle, have emerged as a major global health challenge, affecting millions of individuals globally, and are among the leading causes of death in South Africa today," the Department of Health said.

Diabetes, according to the department, remained the second leading underlying cause of death in 2020 at 6.6% of all deaths, following COVID-19 which was first detected the same year and became the leading cause of death.

Meanwhile, a new report released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) described rising NCDs such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory conditions, and cancers as a looming health crisis which requires urgent attention.

Today, Phaahla will outline the response plan during a roundtable discussion on the Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) - a collaboration between national research funding agencies in Canada, China, India, South Africa, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"The initiative aims to develop linked international intervention cohorts that will implement and test approaches to prevent overweight and obesity in children and risk factors for NCDs and improve early childhood development (ECD)," said the department ahead of Monday's roundtable.

The event will be attended by amongst others, experts from the South African Medical Research

Council, academic institutions of higher learning and representatives from the High Commission of Canada in South Africa and the WHO.