Kenya health chief raises red flag on cardiovascular diseases
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Fifty percent of in-patient admissions in Kenyan hospitals are those suffering from cardiovascular diseases, which calls for increased multi-sector collaboration to combat the disease.
The Director-General of Health, Dr John Masasabi Kajiado, adds that cardiovascular diseases account for 40 percent of hospital mortality in Kenya.
Speaking to the press on Saturday, Dr Masasabi said hypertension is a major public health problem due to it's high prevalence and low levels of control, and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
As part of addressing the issue, the Ministry of Health, Kenya Cardiac Society and other stakeholders are conducting free blood pressure screening and awareness activities in Kitengela, a few kilometres east of Nairobi.
Dubbed Pima Pressure, during the month-long exercise in May, the stakeholders screen Kenyans for high blood pressure as government and heart health stakeholders step up their campaign against heart diseases.
“I call on Kenyans to make use of this screening exercise to get their blood pressure checked. You do not have to wait until the complications start.
"You also have to make a conscious effort to consume healthy foods and drinks, stay physically active to help reduce the risk of heart disease, avoid all forms of tobacco and alcohol and also get annual blood pressure check-up,” he added.
Alongside raising caution to Kenyans against unhealthy lifestyle choices, which are a key risk factor contributing to the rise of hypertension, experts have also raised the red flag concerning low screening rates among men in the country.
“We have noted that even though men are at a higher risk of the complications of hypertension, they are far less likely to have their blood pressure checked compared to women," he said.
About 71 percent of adult men have never had a blood pressure check compared to 41 percent for women.
Other reasons are poor compliance to treatment once diagnosed, and men also have a poorer control rate, said Prof. Elijah Ogola of the Kenya Cardiac Society and Secretary General of the Pan African Society of Cardiology.
Untreated high blood pressure leads to complications such as stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure and erectile dysfunction among men.
-0- PANA DJ/MA 18May2019
