Regulate Food Marketing to Control NCDs – South Rift

Regulate Food Marketing to Control NCDs

Press Statement

Preamble

The NCCK South Rift Region has over the last two days held a forum here at PCEA Milele Resort, Nakuru, to reflect on the emerging pandemic of Non Communicable Diseases. The forum brought together leaders from the NCCK member churches in Baringo, Bomet, Kericho, Nakuru, Narok and Samburu Counties. The forum was inspired by the scripture recorded in Deuteronomy 27: 18

Cursed is the man who leads the blind astray on the road. Then all the people shall say, Amen.

And also in Matthew 18: 6

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

We in this forum recognized that the number of Kenyans suffering from Non Communicable Diseases is rising steadily and if urgent action is not taken, we will soon have a crisis in families and health facilities. We especially noted that according to the National Strategic Plan, NCDs account for more than 39% of all deaths and 50% of all hospitalizations in Kenya. Even more concerning to us is that the number of children diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension, obesity and cardiovascular diseases has risen sharply, meaning that age is no longer the main driver of these diseases.

Declare NCDs a National Emergency

Statistics show that 77% of the health expenditure of Kenyan households goes to management of Non Communicable Diseases. On average, it costs a patient KSh 130,000 per year to manage an NCD that does not have complications. Most survivors are devastated by the fact that the health coverage benefits under the Social Health Authority / Social Health Insurance Fund (SHA/SHIF) are grossly way below this average. We anticipate that NCD related complications will rise in the short term due to non-compliance among the middle-level and low income communities.

We appeal to the government to speedily declare Non Communicable Diseases a national emergency to ensure adequate attention and action across the state to stop the pandemic from worsening.

Regulate Marketing of Unhealthy Foods

Recognizably, the current rise in prevalence of NCDs is being driven by increasing consumption of foods that are high in salt, high in saturated fats, and high in sugar. It is a major risk for the nation that highly processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages are intensively marketed on media and social structures. We find it diabolical that these advertisements are primarily targeted at children, who are already at risk of being diagnosed with NCDs.

We therefore call for urgent measures by the media as well as national and county governments to regulate the advertisement of the unhealthy foods, and instead provide incentives to marketers of healthy foods to make it cheaper for them to advertise. Among other elements, the regulations should curtail the placement of advertisements for foods high in sugar, high in salt and high in saturated fats near schools or during the water-shed hours when children are likely to be consuming media. Further, we call for an immediate cessation of the use of children or children-like characters in advertisement of unhealthy foods. Let us join in protecting the future generation.

We appeal to all our food producers to not be like the people described in Romans 16: 18

For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people.

Introduce Mandatory Front of Pack Warning Labels

In addition to restricting marketing of unhealthy foods, we call upon the Ministry of Health and all related stakeholders to accelerate the process of adopting policies to require food processors to include Front of Pack Warning Labels. The labels must be clear to read and must be of specific colour and size, and should indicate the quantity of salt, sugar and saturated fats in the product.

We state firmly that Kenyans have a right to know what they are eating, and the truth should not be hidden in illegible and unintelligible so-called back-of-the-pack nutrition content summaries that are currently in use.

Give Kenyans a Working Health Insurance or Revert to NHIF

Kenyans are devastated by the fact that every other day, a new scandal arises tied to the newly introduced Social Health Insurance Fund, also called Taifacare. The recent report by the Auditor General that the government does not have control of the system running the health scheme is a major cause of worry for Kenyans.

In our counties, we continue to witness the suffering of Kenyan citizens who are having to pay for their healthcare following the reduction of benefits under the SHIF as compared to what was provided under the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). We urge the government to change the benefits package under the SHIF to be the same as what was under NHIF, or to be made better. We should not be retrogressing, but improving.

End the Early Campaigns

We are deeply concerned that across the communities in our counties, the general mood is one of sadness and hopelessness. The economic state of our people is devastating households, who are now poorer than they have ever been. This status cannot hold for long, as it is creating an environment for incitement and mobilisation to violence and insecurity.

We appeal to the government to radically and urgently change the financial and economic policy and structure in the nation to prevent a slide into chaos. If this is not remedied urgently, we are likely to witness violence in our counties in the lead up to the 2027 General Elections.

We especially demand that politicians stop early campaigns and instead focus on service delivery.

Conclusion

We conclude by remembering that God holds us responsible for how we feed and take care of our bodies, just as he warns us 1 Corinthians 3: 16 – 17

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

May God help us to embrace healthy diets in our families and communities; and may God bless our communities with the resources necessary to afford the healthy foods for their households.

Signed on this 5^th day of March, 2025, at PCEA Milele Resort, Nakuru.

Bishop Peter Muiruri

Chairman, NCCK South Rift Region