Aurum Institute

Three out of ten adults in Isles suffer from hypertension

AT least 33 per cent of adults in Zanzibar suffer from hypertension, it has been disclosed.

This was said by Programme Director at Health Improvement Project Zanzibar (HIPZ), a non-governmental organization, Mr Simon Kuhnert.

“It has been reported that, globally about 20 per cent of adults suffer from hypertension. In Zanzibar, the estimate is even higher at around 33 per cent and only around 10 per cent are diagnosed and treated appropriately. Such late diagnosis and treatment bring about various complications leading to high morbidity and mortality we unfortunately see here in Zanzibar,” he said.

He said this at the event where senior officers from AstraZeneca and ‘Health Heart Africa (HHA)’ teamed up with the Zanzibar Health Ministry, to step up campaign against Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), the devastating global health challenge.

Mr Kuhnert said that to address this challenge, the campaign will help improve services to screen, diagnose and treat patients with hypertension.

“We will be working with healthcare professionals and community members to raise awareness and increase screening to mitigate the problem associated with this critical health issue.

“To achieve this, we will work with the District Health Management teams and NCD Unit focusing on strengthening the capacity of the primary health care units – the facilities closest to the community and key components in the Essential Healthcare Package.”

“We will train health care workers, provide necessary medical equipment as well as supplies including drugs. We will deliver on-job mentorship and provide guidelines and job-aids to enable the healthcare workers to effectively do their jobs. At the same time, we will strengthen referral pathways and support the implementation of the national referral guideline,” he said.

Director, Preventive Services and Health Education in the ministry, Dr Salum Slim, officiated the event, where he urged health officers and members of the community to promote awareness on behaviour change in an effort to mitigate the challenge.

He said prevention and screening is important for individuals to know their status and indeed keep their life out of danger.

“NCDs is a real threat, we need to increase awareness to mitigate the problem and save lives. The number of people contracting NCDs including hypertension, cardiovascular problems, diabetes and other health complications,” Dr Slim said.

Director, Global Sustainable- Access to Healthcare AstraZeneca Dr Allan Mackenzie informed the audience that his company will work closely with the health ministry and other partners to ensure people understand more about NCDs, so that they can observe health precautions.

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Experts:It’s psychological research to curb NCDs

MUHIMBILI University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) has implored the African countries to focus on advancing psychological research in response to the increasing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

The call was made on Wednesday by MUHAS Acting Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Appolinary Kamuhabwa, when officiating the first East African Society of Physiological Science (EASPS) conference organised in collaboration with African Association of Physiological Science (AAPS) held in Dar es Salaam.

The NCDs are reported to be on the rise, not only in Tanzania but also in other parts of the world at large. Tabling the 2023/2024 budget estimates for her docket, in the august House, the Minister for Health, Ms Ummy Mwalimu stated that from July 2022 to March 2023, NCDs that caused many patients to attend health care centres included high blood pressure (890,788 patients, or 3.8 per cent), compared to 3.6 per cent in the same period in 2021/22 and diabetes (436,232 patients, or 1.8 per cent).

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She went on to say that heart disease caused 1,388 deaths, or 6.0 per cent of all deaths, compared to 5.4 per cent of deaths caused by the condition in the same period in 2021/22.

According to the national study on indications of noncommunicable diseases (Steps Survey 2012) in Tanzania indicated that there was high presence of NCDs, whereby one in each four people had high blood pressure and one in each 10 people had diabetes. It also found out that there was an increase of risky behaviours such as the use of to***co by 15.9 per cent, alcohol abuse by 29.3 per cent as well as unhealthy eating.

“Worldwide we are facing many diseases, especially NCDs such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer among others, so physiology itself is a discipline that is designed to provide some answers to this kind of diseases,” “So, I believe when there is a deliberate advance in the areas of training and research in terms of prevention and treatments as well as rehabilitation for those affected will mitigate the impact of the diseases,” Prof Kamuhabwa.

According to WHO, NCDs kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 74 per cent of all deaths globally. Of all NCD deaths, 77 per cent are in low- and middle-income countries. In line, Prof Kamuhabwa encouraged seniors particularly professors to strongly mentor the juniors adding teaching research and practice in physiology need strong mentorship.

In a related development, he commended the organiser for choosing Tanzania to host the first conference. “As a country we are very proud and honoured that this first conference took place in Tanzania …this is an indication that we are trusted and peaceful that’s why many people come to Tanzania,” he underlined.

Regarding the conference, EASPS President Prof Abdullateef Alagbonsi noted that the conference will upscale the physiological activities in the region.

A -three day the conference themed “Advancing Physiological Training, Research and Practice in Africa” was attended by over 100 delegates from 22 countries globally including Tanzania, Kenya, Russian, Nigeria, Japan, among others.

Healthy Living: Hypertension Prevention, Cholera Outbreaks, Reality Glassing Helping to See Words On this episode of Healthy Living, we take a look at hypertension. What is it and how can someone prevent it? Dr. Anzibert Rugakingira of the Tanzania Minist...

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Four in ten Tanzanians suffer from hypertension

FOUR out of ten people in the country are suffering from hypertension, a rising alarm that has forced the government to step up the treatment scope by allowing dispensaries to start offering the services.

In dealing with the rising cases of hypertension diseases, the government has endorsed the treatment services at dispensary levels by allowing them to dispense two medicines at primary levels.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday during the marking of the World Hypertension Day, Minister for Health, Ms Ummy Mwalimu said hypertension is a leading non-communicable disease (NCD) in the country.

She said according to a community surveillance conducted recently, cases of hypertension diseases have doubled in five years.

According to the Health Statistical Bulletin of 2022, she said there are increasing cases of hypertension from 688,901 patients in 2017 to 1,345,847 in 2021, which is 95.4 per cent increase.

Minister Ummy said since 2015, when Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) started offering services to-date, 66 per cent of the patients are suffering from hypertension.

“This means out of ten patients attending treatment at JKCI, six of them are suffering from hypertension diseases,” said Ms Mwalimu.

Moreover, she said, according to surveillance carried out in Coast, Arusha, Geita, Mtwara, Lindi, Zanzibar, Iringa and Dar es Salaam statistics have it that between three to four out of ten people are having low or high blood pressure.

The trend is the cause of stroke, heart attack and heart failure diseases which are major reasons for increasing cases of sudden deaths.

The minister said 90-95 per cent of the patients are due to primary hypertension as there are scientific causes and the remaining per cent are caused by secondary hypertension, which are due to hormone imbalance, kidney problems and lung complications.

Minister Ummy said hypertension and other non-communicable diseases treatment have always been offered by specialities but with the increasing number of cases, the government has seen the need to allow dispensaries to start offering the services.

Moreover, she said, hypertension disease treatment has been dispensed from health centres to national hospitals levels, whereas the government is improving infrastructures and equipment to ensure the patients get the best services.

The minister called upon the community to change lifestyle, observe healthy eating and undertaking physical activities to contain NCD.

World Hypertension Day is held on 17 May. This year, the theme for this important worldwide activity is Measure Your Blood Pressure Accurately, Control It, Live Longer, focusing on combatting low awareness rates worldwide, especially in low to middle income areas and accurate blood pressure measurement methods.

WHO warns about silent killer hypertension as experts stipulate causes, treatments

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) released its first-ever report on the devastating global impact of high blood pressure along with recommendations on the ways to win the race against this silent killer.

The report shows approximately four out of every five people with hypertension are not adequately treated, but if countries can scale up coverage, 76 million deaths could be averted between 2023 and 2050. Report says hypertension affects one in three adults worldwide.

This common, deadly condition leads to stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney damage and many other health problems. High blood pressure is blood pressure that is higher than normal. Your blood pressure changes throughout the day based on your activities.

Having blood pressure measures consistently above normal may result in a diagnosis of high blood pressure (or hypertension). The higher your blood pressure levels, the more risk you have for other health problems, such as heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

The number of people living with hypertension (blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg or higher or taking medication for hypertension) doubled between 1990 and 2019, from 650 million to 1.3 billion. Nearly half of people with hypertension globally are currently unaware of their condition. More than three-quarters of adults with hypertension live in low- and middle-income countries. Experts say overweight or obesity is one of the main causes that can lead a person to have high blood pressure.

A Medical Doctor from Buguruni Hospital, Ms Rachel Mwinuka says drinking too much alcohol or coffee (caffeine-based drinks) increases a risk of getting hypertension.

“When someone drinks a lot of caffeine-based drinks he/she is at the risk of getting high blood pressure which is not good to someone’s health,” the doctor says. Dr Rachel recommends that if a person is addicted to caffeine-drinks he/she should quit because they are not good in our bodies due to the fact that they cause harm to our health.

She adds up and says eating too much salt and not eating enough fruit and vegetables is another thing that increases a risk of getting high blood pressure which is literally not good for our health.

“It is estimated that we need about 500 mg of sodium daily for these vital functions. But too much sodium in the diet can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke,” she says.

Dr Rachel says the only thing that will help people to abstain from this complication is to avoid things that lead to the disease itself. Also, according to Dr Rachel she says kidney diseases, diabetes and longterm kidney infections are some of the complications that lead to high blood pressure.

“When a person has some of these problems basically a particular person can be at the risk of experiencing high blood pressure for example in terms of kidney diseases we all know that kidneys play a key role in keeping your blood pressure in a healthy range therefore we must understand diseased kidneys are less able to help regulate blood pressure,” she notes.

She recommends that people who have complications that can cause high blood pressure should seek medical attention which will help them.

A medical specialist from Lawate Dispensary in Dar es Salaam, Dr Jacob Adam says high blood pressure can often be prevented or reduced by eating healthily, maintaining a healthy weight.

“Healthy diet eating a low-fat diet that includes lots of fiber, such as wholegrain rice, bread and pasta, and plenty of fruit and vegetables also helps lower blood pressure,” she says.

Dr Adam says physical activity can help keep a person at a healthy weight and lower somebody’s blood pressure. “For example, the ‘Physical Activity Guidelines’ for Americans recommends that adults get at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, such as brisk walking or bicycling, every week,” he says.

He also recommends people with smoking habits to quit, in which he says smoking raises blood pressure and puts a person at higher risk for heart attack and stroke.

“If you do not smoke, do not start. If you do smoke, quitting will lower your risk for heart disease. Your doctor can suggest ways to help you quit,’’ he advises.

Dr Adam says getting enough sleep is important to your overall health and enough sleep is part of keeping your heart and blood vessels healthy.

“Not getting enough sleep on a regular basis is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke.” Experts say high blood pressure usually has no symptoms, so the only way to know if you have it is to get your blood pressure measured.

Talk with your health care team about how you can manage your blood pressure and lower your risk.