The cultural sensitivities of salt reduction

We have joined forces with the NCD Alliance and partners to participate in the Facing Forward series, produced by BBC StoryWorks.

Facing Forward is a series of 25 short films and 10 articles from Lebanon, Ghana, Guinea, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Kenya, Thailand and the Pacific Islands, amongst other countries.

The series aims to raise awareness of NCDs and highlight the stories of people who are living with them across the globe, as well as those of the communities, institutions and organisations who are leading the way to prevent and control NCDs.

Reducing hypertension

The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) has participated in this series to highlight the impact of the implementation research it has supported in the context of cultural sensitives of salt reduction, with the overall aim of preventing hypertension.

Raised blood pressure (hypertension), as a result of consuming high levels of sodium in salt, increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes, which are now the leading causes of death in low- and middle- income countries.

The GACD projects featured are exploring how to best deliver salt reduction strategies and public health messages within different environments, cultures and contexts.

To see how researchers are getting their messaging right, the Facing Forward series features examples from GACD projects in low- and middle-income, rural communities around the world including Peru, China and the Pacific Islands.

By fostering research collaborations and multisectoral partnerships around the world, the GACD is helping to ensure NCD risk prevention strategies can be effectively implemented.

By involving the community who are the beneficiaries of the research in its execution, we anticipate the impact will be stronger and better sustained.

Find out more about these projects on the Facing Forward webpage.

You can also read full case studies of the salt reduction programmes in China and the Pacific Islands.

The NCD Alliance and BBC StoryWorks encourage you to share the series and join the conversation using the social media hashtags #FacingForward and #ActOnNCDs.