By Noimot OlayiwolaThe Supreme Council of Health will begin a “STEPwise” nationwide survey of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among Qataris by end of this year, it was learnt yesterday.This move is part of a global surveillance strategy for preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases and their major risk factors.The STEPwise approach to surveillance of NCD risk factors (STEPS) was developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in response to the growing need for country-level trends in non-communicable diseases. Surveillance as a fundamental tool of public health is often defined as the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health data and the timely dissemination of the data to policymakers and others. According to the WHO, good quality health information is essential for planning and implementing health policy in all countries and that surveillance provides health information in a timely manner so that countries have the information that they need to fight epidemics now or plan for the future.The survey, which aims at providing a basic database about NCDs and their risk factors in Qatar, will within a one-and-a-half year period, cover a cluster sample of 2,000 people drawn from each municipality in the country.“During the first step in the survey, we will distribute questionnaire to record demographic data of respondents as well as collect information about their health history regarding diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, risk factors for NCDs, blood pressure and tobacco use,” Health Promotion and NCDs section manager Dr Al Anoud bint Mohamed al-Thani said.According to her, step two and three of the survey will include checking body weight, height, body mass index, waistline measurement, blood measurement, blood glucose and total cholesterol.“We have plans to establish a national committee comprising representatives from Qatar Statistics Authority, Qatar University, Primary Healthcare Department, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar Diabetes Association and Qatar National Cancer Society, that will be working with the WHO consultant on NCDs to help monitor the field work during the survey as well as collate and modify results aside making recommendations for policy makers in line with the provision of the Qatar National Development Strategy 2011-2016,” she mentioned. Making an opening speech at the two-day workshop held yesterday to decide on the action plan for the survey, the Public Health Department director Dr Mohamed al-Thani noted that through the survey, the SCH would be able to devise a national strategy to contain NCDs through treating their potential risk factors. “According to WHO statistic, NCDs account for a great number of deaths and disabilities in societies and they constitute a great burden on public health system and the results of a survey conducted in Qatar by WHO in 2006 revealed that 8.3% of the total sample have diabetes, 39% suffered potential risk of diabetes, some 32.1% of adults and 28.7% of children less than five years are overweight, while 56% do not practice recommended exercises and 81.7% do not eat daily the recommended amounts of vegetables and fruits,” he recalled.