047: Noncommunicable Diseases - CVD & Diabetes W/ Dr. Nchang Taka

Living African

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Heart disease is very common and serious. It’s the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. If you have diabetes, you’re twice as likely to have heart disease or a stroke than someone who doesn’t have diabetes—and at a younger age. The longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are to have heart disease.

Diabetes and heart disease are both noncommunicable diseases, meaning that they can’t be transmitted from one person to another unlike other very common communicable diseases that are prevalent in Africa such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, salmonella, etc. Also, the symptoms of diabetes and heart disease are not as obvious as most of the infectious diseases like malaria, typhoid, etc, which are common in Africa. The nature of these two diseases poses a huge problem as not much attention is given to them as normally should. Well, not until it is too late. So, in an effort to promote wellness in our community, we will be having a conversation with Dr. Nchang Taka, who is a cardiologist and very experienced in this field.

MEET OUR GUEST:

Dr. Nchang Taka who's currently Interventional Cardiologist and Endovascular specialist Working in ATlanta GA, Board certified in Internal Medicine, General Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology. He studied medicine at Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (CUSS). He did his residency at Morehouse School of Medicine, ATlanta GA, and did his Cardiology Fellowship at University Of Mississippi Medical Center.

Things You Will Learn in This Episode:

[00:01 – 03:00] Introduction

• Introducing the guest - Dr. Nchang Taka

[03:00 – 27:00] Understanding Noncommunicable Diseases

• Examples of noncommunicable diseases
• Understanding cardiovascular diseases
• Data & statistics of cardiovascular diseases
• Causes of cardiovascular diseases
• Preventive measures & treatments
• The importance of healthy dieting

[27:00 – 43:00] Diabetes & Hypertension

• What is diabetes & hypertension
• Knowing the risks factors
• Preventive measures to take
• The foundation of a healthy life

[43:00 - 55:00] Sudden Death Syndrome

• Wellness checks and practices we need
• Knowing your families history

[55:00 – 1:00:004] Final Discussions

• Final words from Dr. Nchang Taka
• Final words from Anyoh

Tweetable Quotes:

“Cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors tend to be more frequent among Africans and African American as a whole compared to non-Africans.” - Dr. Nchang Taka

“Hypertension is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and the biggest risk factor for hypertension is obesity, which is something that we overlook a lot. Obesity is a form of malnutrition.” - Dr. Nchang Taka

“A lot of members of the African community don’t know their family history and some of them don’t even care to know, and also don’t care to share. There is this false ideology that if you are sick, you have to hide it from others because you don’t want your “haters” to pray for your demise or you don’t want to be a source of stress to anybody. That actually causes more harm than good.” - Anyoh Fombad

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