Collecting and analysing data related to health is a core business of public health. The Seychelles National Survey of Noncommunicable Diseases 2023 (Seychelles Heart Study V) provides data on population levels of NCDs and their risk factors, as well as other determinants of population health. The data also provide information on the impact of public health policies and the performance of the health system in relation to detection and control of NCDs and their risk factors.
The data presented in this report are critical for ensuring that NCD prevention and control programmes and policy in Seychelles are driven by the latest epidemiologic data. The data will also enable Seychelles to report to the World Health Organization on the latest levels of NCDs and their risk factors in preparation for the Fourth High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (HLM4) in September 2025.
The data collected in the survey also provide public health and academic institutions with a valuable database for further research.
The 2023 survey is part of a longstanding effort of the Ministry of Health to understand the impact of NCDs as a result of the health transition in the Seychelles and the needed health system changes to cope with demographic and epidemiological transitions, particularly the large NCD burden. Including this survey, the Ministry of Health has now commissioned five population-based NCD surveys (1989, 1994, 2004, 2013, and 2023).
The Seychelles Heart Study V was conducted between August and December 2023. It included 1205 participants aged 18-74 from an age-stratified random sample of the Seychellois population enumerated by the 2022 population census. The participation rate was 66% (or 80% if the 305 persons contacted by the National Bureau of Statistics who refused to communicate their phone number to the MOH are considered as non-eligible).
Based on 200 questions and 60 biological and clinical measurements, the survey examined the prevalence of health characteristics in the population, the awareness, detection, and treatment rates of selected NCD risk factors, and associations between these variables.
While the survey primarily focused on the four main noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), i.e. cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, and their four shared risk factors (i.e. tobacco use, diet, alcohol intake, physical activity, and health conditions such as obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemias), it also examined other NCDs such as chronic kidney disease, cancer screening, psychological health, oral health, COVID history and use of health services, as well as socio-economic variables and social determinants of health.
Other chronic conditions, such as mental health, neuropsychiatric disorders, and osteo-muscular diseases were not considered in the survey, in large part because these conditions often require thorough and time-consuming medical examination.
Key findings of the survey were presented to the Senior Management Team of the Ministry of Health on the 8th of April 2024 (in presence of the Minister of Health, Public Health Commissioner, and heads of health services) and are expected to be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers and shared with a broad range of relevant national and international stakeholders engaged in reducing the NCD burden nationally and globally (Appendix 10).