Research Entity Reveals Vision for Comprehensive Health Initiatives
Prof Leepile Sehularo, the newly appointed director of the Lifestyle Diseases research niche area at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Mahikeng Campus, says the research area is committed to implementing enhanced programmes dedicated to preventing and treating lifestyle-related diseases.
A ground-breaking long-term care model, focusing on psychological perspectives for managing lifestyle diseases, is a key component of the upcoming initiatives.
The overarching goal of the Lifestyle Diseases research niche area is to attain national and international recognition for research aimed at preventing and reducing impairments, disabilities and premature deaths associated with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), mental disorders, and violence.
The entity envisions achieving this through community-centred and inter-professional care approaches, along with psychosocial interventions, targeting the preventable lifestyle-linked context of NCDs.
The common risk factors linked to NCDs include tobacco use, alcohol abuse, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and environmental carcinogens. With these in mind, Prof Sehularo stresses the need for holistic interventions considering economic, social, gender, socio-political, psychological, behavioural, and environmental determinants.
“The research area will play a pivotal role in managing research outputs and productivity in alignment with the NWU’s strategy for research and innovation, and we are looking forward to ushering in a new era of comprehensive health initiatives at the NWU,” he adds.
More about Prof Leepile Sehularo
Prof Sehularo is a professor of psychiatry and mental health nursing. He has successfully supervised seven PhD candidates and sixteen master’s students at the NWU and the Shifa-Tameer-e-Millat University in Pakistan.
He has presented research papers at national and international conferences and published more than 50 research articles in accredited national and international journals, as well as two book chapters. His research interest focuses on resilience, substance abuse and mental health law.