The University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) Ground Rounds for February featured a presentation by the Lifestyle Medicine team, a unit within the Family Medicine Department. Lifestyle Medicine integrates clinical guidelines to promote lifestyle modifications that prevent, treat, and even reverse infectious and non-communicable diseases.
Established in December 2022, the UPTH Lifestyle Medicine Center is the first of its kind in a public health institution in Africa. Dr. Obianma Onya, a consultant family physician and pioneer director of the center, led the presentation, emphasizing the benefits of lifestyle modification for overall well-being.
Dr. Onya outlined the seven pillars of lifestyle medicine, which align with the World Health Organization (WHO) model for sustainable and practical chronic disease management. These pillars are captured in the acronym W-A-S-H-E-D:
1. Whole food, plant-based nutrition
2. Activity/Exercise
3. Sleep (7–9 hours daily)
4. Harmful Substance Avoidance
5. Emotional Health (Social Connectedness)
6. De-stress
The UPTH Lifestyle Medicine Center applies these pillars through a multidisciplinary approach, involving doctors, dietitians, nurses, health coaches (social workers), and other professionals. A comprehensive patient assessment checklist has enabled the center to treat approximately 200 patients since its inception.
The session also featured presentations from a dietitian on nutrition, doctors on scientific research, and nurses on patient care. The Lifestyle Medicine team manages patients directly and through referrals from other hospital clinics.
Advocacy efforts highlight that sustainable lifestyle changes, guided by lifestyle medicine physicians, are a cost-effective and healthier approach to preventing, treating, and reversing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, and hypertension.
