Medical experts discussed in Minsk the strategy for managing the risks of developing non-communicable diseases

On April 15, 2025, as part of the 30th International Medical Forum "Healthcare of Belarus - 2025", the Republican Scientific and Practical Seminar "Implementation of the Harm Reduction Concept for Managing Risk Factors for the Development of Non-Communicable Diseases (Tobacco Smoking, Excessive Consumption of ALCOHOL, SALT and SUGAR), as well as Ecology in Public HEALTH Issues in Belarus" was held in MINSK. The event was organized by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus , the State Institution "Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Medical Technologies, Informatization, Management and Economics of Healthcare" and the Republican Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. One of the most serious global challenges of recent years is chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diseases of the circulatory system, diabetes mellitus, malignant neoplasms, chronic respiratory diseases and others. The development of NCDs is based on risk factors - potentially hazardous health factors of a behavioral, genetic, environmental, social nature, which increase the likelihood of developing diseases, their progression and unfavorable outcome. Among the main modifiable (i.e. changeable) risk factors are smoking, alcohol abuse, salt and sugar. High human and economic costs emphasize the need to reduce the burden of NCDs in Belarus as well. Among all the known and already widely used modern approaches to the policy of influencing risk factors in many developed countries of the world, the concept of harm reduction occupies a special position: this concept allows moving from prohibitive approaches and methods to scientifically proven and working methods of changing the behavior of both an individual and the whole society. The
seminar program included reports by leading specialists in the field of hygiene and child health, mental health, pulmonology and phthisiology: issues of smoking and alcohol abuse, the formation of anti-alcohol policy in the country, and achievements of neuroendocrinology were touched upon. The seminar was attended by Aleksandrov A. A., Chief Physician of the Healthcare Institution "Minsk Regional Clinical Center "Psychiatry - Narcology", PhD, Associate Professor, Guzik E. O., Professor of the Department of Hygiene and Children's Health with a Course for Advanced Training and Retraining of the Educational Institution "BSMU", MD, Professor, Danilova L. I., HEAD of the Department of Clinical Endocrinology of the Institute for Advanced Training of Physicians and Retraining of Healthcare Personnel of the Educational Institution "BSMU", MD, Professor, Kaminskaya Yu. M., DIRECTORState Institution "Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Mental Health", PhD, Associate Professor, Roshchupkin A. V., Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Association of European Businesses, First Deputy Director of the Unitary Enterprise "Coca-Cola Beverages Belarus", PhD, Associate Professor, Ruzanov D. Yu., Deputy Director for Research, State Institution "Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Pulmonology and Phthisiology", Professor of the Department of Cardiology and Internal Diseases, UO "BSMU", PhD, Associate Professor.
Hygienists, pulmonologists, pediatricians, psychiatrists, narcologists, allergists-immunologists, students of medical educational institutions engaged in training, advanced training and (or) retraining, specialists with higher medical education, young scientists , and postgraduate students were invited to participate in the seminar.
Dmitry Yuryevich Ruzanov, Deputy Director for Research at the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Pulmonology and Phthisiology, commented: "A healthcare professional's conversation with a smoking patient should be based on motivational counseling - it is necessary to emphasize that quitting smoking will improve their well-being and allow them to live longer. Experience shows that the directive system practically does not work for patients with severe tobacco addiction. That is why it is important that such patients could also potentially consider various alternatives for themselves that involve modification, that is, reducing risks to the body."
Alexey Alekseevich Aleksandrov, Chief Physician at the Minsk Regional Clinical Center for Psychiatry and Narcology, noted: "Currently, an approach aimed at reducing harm - when instead of a total ban or restrictions, a strategy of gradually changing dangerous behavior to less harmful is used - is a public health trend in many developed countries. It is absolutely clear that such an approach must be comprehensive and apply not only to tobacco smoking, but also to other key modifiable risk factors - primarily, excessive alcohol consumption."