NCD, Health Promotion and Research Unit

Introduction

The NCD, Health Promotion and Research Unit (NCDHPRU) was set up at a time when the Ministry of Health and Wellness felt that there was an urgent need for a unit to look into the rising problems of non-communicable diseases and also to help in the communicable diseases programme. Thus, the unit was entrusted with the mission to organise, coordinate and execute health intervention programmes pertaining to prevention and control of NCDs as well as to improve quality of life and well-being of the population through promotion of health.
Moreover, the Unit was assigned with the mobilizing of the community in the prevention of non-communicable diseases and its associated risks, conducting research projects/surveys, organising Health International Events and in formulating strategies against emerging infectious disease. Hence, the Unit is day by day assuming additional responsibilities and becoming increasingly important as it is acting as a catalyst in the development of community health, health promotion and in the prevention of communicable disease.
This Unit is divided into seven main pillars namely:

  1. Early Detection and Screening of NCDs and Health Promotion
  2. Promotion Of Physical Activities
  3. Prevention Of Emerging Infectious Diseases
  4. Sensitization/Health Education Campaigns
  5. Events, Workshop and Training
  6. Surveys
  7. Research And Publications

Vision

A healthy nation with a constantly improving standard of life

Mission

  • Improve quality of life and well-being of the population through the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), promote healthy lifestyles and reduce associated environmental risk factors
  • Organise, coordinate and execute health intervention programmes pertaining to prevention of NCDs and health promotion activities
  • Harness the potential of Information and Communication Technology to enhance communication in population using new technologies (ICT) and Health Literacy Programme
  • Ensure that available human, financial and physical resources lead to the achievement of better health outcomes.

Objectives

  • Screen as many people for NCDs as possible at worksites, schools and outreach regions and in the community at large.
  • Enhance the health status of the community by means of nutritional intervention and increased physical activity.
  • Improvise infrastructural facilities to promote physical activity in the community.
  • Organise and dispense talks, health education and counselling to prevent the onset of NCDs and also to prevent complications.
  • Offer opportunities for lifestyle management.
  • Sensitise and mobilize the community and enlist their participation in health activities.
  • Empower the community to take control of their health.
  • Act as facilitator in National and International Conference / Workshop.
  • Organize and conduct Research / Survey on NCDs.

Name Designation Phone Fax Email
Dr the Honorable Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal Minster of Health and Wellness 2011910 2144293 minsec@govmu.org
Mrs D.C.A.R Seewooruthun Senior Chief Executive 2011912 ​​​208 0376 mohscesec@govmu.org
Dr B. Ori Director General Health Services 201 2692 201 1039 bori@govmu.org
Mrs. Z. B. Lallmahomed Permanent Secretary 2011921/ 2013719 208 1147 zlallmahomed@govmu.org
Mr D. Conhye Permanent Secretary 2011902 201 3659 dconhye@govmu.org
Ms. Callychurn Ag. Permanent Secretary 201 2728 201 3340​ grcallychurn@govmu.org
Dr. S. Kowlessur, CSK Director Health Promotion and Research 201 1929 2133770 sukowlessur@govmu.org
Mrs. S.Kalasoptan-Chellen Ag.Deputy Permanent Secretary 201 3488 208 1140 desjaysl994@gmail.com
Mr J. L.D Bhujoharry Assistant Permanent Secretary 201 1514 208 7222 jbhujoharry@govmu.org

The NCD, Health Promotion and Research Unit, Head Quarter and the five regional NCD, Health Promotion Sub Units are under the supervision and responsibility of the Director, Dr Sudhir Kowlessur, CSK.

NCD-HP & RESEARCH UNIT STAFF:

Dedicated officers from a wide range of the grades namely Director Health Promotion and Research, Chief Health Promotion And Research Coordinator, Nursing Supervisor,   Specialized Health Promotion Nurse, Nursing Officer, Specialized Health Care Assistant, Health Care Assistant, Community Health Care Officer, Nutritionist, Office Management Assistant, Management Support Officer, Service To Mauritius, Community Health Development Motivator, Medical Health Officer, Physical Instructors and Statistician, work at the NCD & Health Promotion Unit to promote the health status of the population.

NCD, Health Promotion and Research Unit, Head Quarters

Address:

8th Floor, Emmanuel Anquetil Building, Port Louis

Email Address:

healthpromotion@govmu.org, sukowlessur@govmu.org

Telephone Number:

201 -1929

Fax Number:

213- 3770

The main office of the NCD & Health Promotion Unit is situated at the Head Quarters, E. Anquetil Building, Port Louis. In addition, there are five sub offices in the five different health regions as follows:

SN

Region

Address

Email Address

Telephone Number

Coordinates of Location

1

NCD Health Promotion and Research Unit, Jeetoo Hospital

Atchia Building, Corner Suffren and Mgr Gonin St Port Louis

ncdjh1@gmail.com

2130037

-20.165039, 57.508388

2

NCD Health Promotion and Research Unit, SSRN Hospital

SSRN Quarters

ssrnquarters@gmail.com

2431339

20°05'51.2"S 57°33'19.3"E

3

NCD Health Promotion and Research Unit, Flacq Hospital

La Source, Ayurvedic Building, Flacq

flacqhpu@gmail.com

4137221

20°11'32.6"S 57°43'48.6"E

4

NCD Health Promotion and Research Unit, Victoria Hospital

La Caverne, Area Health Center

hpuvacoas1@gmail.com

6975120

-20.304686400400627, 57.484615282186475

5

NCD Health Promotion and Research Unit, JNH Hospital

Royal Road, Dr H.Nakajima Mediclinic, L’escalier

healthpromotionlescalier@gmail.com

6368310

-20.47404405475121, 57.61815726684843

NCD and Health Promotion Pillars

The NCD, Health Promotion and Research Unit, Rodrigues

The Ministry of Health and Wellness, Rodrigues Regional Assembly/ Commission for Health and Others with the collaboration of external investigators have conducted various surveys in Rodrigues. Some of the recent survey conducted at Rodrigues were the Rodrigues NCD Survey 2022 and Rodrigues Nutrition Survey 2023 which will be conducted as from 25 July – 04 August 2023, for the age group 5 to 74 years to collect data on food and nutrient intakes in the population.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness, Rodrigues Regional Assembly/ Commission for Health and Others, in collaboration with Monash University, Australia conducted the Rodrigues NCD survey to determine the prevalence and study the trends of NCDs in Rodrigues.  The survey started on 04 November 2022 and ended on 05 November 2022. A total number of 972 participants, aged between 20 to 74 years attended the survey, with a response rate of 77.8 %.

The activities carried out during Rodrigues NCD Survey 2022

Moreover, the Unit was assigned with the mobilizing of the community in the prevention of non-communicable diseases and its associated risks, conducting research projects/surveys, organising Health International Events and in formulating strategies against emerging infectious disease. Hence, the Unit is day by day assuming additional responsibilities and becoming increasingly important as it is acting as a catalyst in the development of community health, health promotion and in the prevention of communicable disease.
This Unit is divided into seven main pillars namely:

  1. Early Detection and Screening of NCDs and Health Promotion
  2. Promotion Of Physical Activities
  3. Prevention Of Emerging Infectious Diseases
  4. Sensitization/Health Education Campaigns
  5. Events, Workshop and Training
  6. Surveys
  7. Research And Publications

Rodrigues Non-​Communicable Diseases Report 2022

The Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Rodrigues Regional Assembly and the Commission for Health and Others are undertaking the Rodrigues Nutrition Survey 2023 from 25 July to 04 August 2023.  The Launching Ceremony was performed by Mr D. Dassaye, Permanent Secretary, Dr S. Kowlessur, C.S.K, Director Health Promotion and Research and Mr S. Kalasopatan-Chellen, Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary on Tuesday 25 July 2023 at the Baie Lascar Football Ground, Port Mathurin.

The survey will be carried out in five clusters namely:

  1. Port Mathurin
  2. Baie aux Huitres
  3. La Ferme
  4. Petit Gabriel
  5. Grande Montagne

Rodrigues Nutrition Survey 2023

Research and Studies

Copyright

Authors own the original copyrights to materials they write. Articles published in these journals are in the public domain. However, anyone using the material is requested to properly cite and acknowledge the source.

SN

Year Published

Title

Links

Category

1

February 2009

BMI compared with central obesity indicators as a predictor of diabetes incidence in Mauritius.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19008866/

Diabetes

2

February 2009

Genetic influences on type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome related quantitative traits in Mauritius.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2923577/

Diabetes

3

October 2009

Risk prediction models for the development of diabetes in Mauritian Indians

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19900231/

Diabetes

4

June 2010

Mortality, All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease, over 15 Years in Multiethnic Mauritius: Impact of diabetes and intermediate forms of glucose tolerance

https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/33/9/1983

Diabetes

5

June 2010

Genome-wide scan identifies a quantitative trait locus at 4p15.3 for serum urate.

https://www.nature.com/articles/ejhg201097

Hypertension, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases

6

August 2011

Genome-wide association study in individuals of South Asian ancestry identifies six new type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21874001/

Diabetes

7

January 2012

Explaining the Increase of Diabetes Prevalence and Plasma Glucose in Mauritius

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3241310/

Diabetes

8

April 2012

The influence of hip circumference on the relationship between abdominal obesity and mortality

https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3324456/

cardiovascular disease

9

November 2012

All-cause cancer mortality over 15 years in multi-ethnic Mauritius: the impact of diabetes and intermediate forms of glucose tolerance

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22362309/

Diabetes

10

April 2012

The influence of hip circumference on the relationship between abdominal obesity and mortality

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3324456/

OBESITY

11

May 2013

Glucose-Independent Ethnic Differences in HbA1c in People Without Known Diabetes

https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/36/6/1534

Diabetes

12

September 2013

Effectiveness of Green Tea in a Randomized Human Cohort: Relevance to Diabetes and Its Complications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3786468/

Diabetes

13

February 2014

Genome-wide trans-ancestry meta-analysis provides insight into the genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes susceptibility.

https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.2897

Diabetes

14

September 2014

Plasma levels of soluble interleukin 1 receptor accessory protein are reduced in obesity.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24915116/

Obesity

15

February 2015

The performance of diabetes risk prediction models in new populations: the role of ethnicity of the development cohort

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24996544/

Diabetes

16

February 2015

The performance of diabetes risk prediction models in new populations: the role of ethnicity of the development cohort

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24996544/

Diabetes

17

June 2015

Remote Ischemic Conditioning Reduces Myocardial Infarct Size in STEMI Patients Treated by Thrombolysis

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26112203/

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES

18

July 2015

Epigenome-wide association of DNA methylation markers in peripheral blood from Indian Asians and Europeans with incident type 2 diabetes: a nested case-control study

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26095709/

Diabetes

19

September 2017

Diabetes mellitus prevalence is increasing in South Asians but is stable in Chinese living in Singapore and Mauritius

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27778460/

Diabetes

20

December 2017

Meeting American Diabetes Association diabetes management targets: trends in Mauritius

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28792634/

Diabetes

21

December 2017

Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128·9 million children, adolescents, and adults

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32129-3/fulltext

BMI

22

July 2018

Predictors of Hypertension in Mauritians with Normotension and Prehypertension at Baseline: A Cohort Study

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30004467/

BLOOD PRESSURE

23

July 2018

May Measurement Month 2017: an analysis of blood pressure screening results worldwide

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(18)30259-6/fulltext

BLOOD PRESSURE

24

June 2018

Contributions of mean and shape of blood pressure distribution to worldwide trends and variations in raised blood pressure: a pooled analysis of 1018 population-based measurement studies with 88.6 million participants.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29579276/

Hypertension

25

September 2018

Association between type 2 diabetes mellitus and disability: What is the contribution of diabetes risk factors and diabetes complications?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29508937/

Diabetes

26

September 2020

Tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in paradise: the Mauritian experience

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7515597/

COVID-19

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