World Heart Day Launched

IT is estimated that more than 1.5 billion people or nearly one in three adults over the age of 25 will have high blood pressure, the world’s number one killer, by the year 2025.
The President of the Ghana Society of Hypertension and Cardiology, Dr Francis Kwamin, who made this known at the launch of this year’s World Heart Day in Accra yesterday, said there were no obvious symptoms of high blood pressure, one of the biggest single risk factors for heart diseases and stroke, saying the only way to know was to visit a professional health care facility for a check-up.
He said according to a recent report by the President of the World Heart Federation (WHF), Professor Shahryar Sheikh, heart disease and stroke caused 17.5 million deaths each year, as many deaths as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, diabetes, plus all forms of cancer and chronic respiratory diseases combined.
Dr Kwamin said the number of people affected by high blood pressure was predicted to increase by 50 per cent over the coming years, noting, however, that by adopting suitable lifestyle changes to reduce the risk, the picture could change for the better.
“The level of risk for heart disease and stroke is a combination of modifiable and non-modifiable factors, of which high blood pressure is one of the most important,” he stated, noting that high blood pressure or hypertension currently affected more than a billion people world-wide”.
Speaking on the theme, “Know Your Risk”, he said it was very important for all to know their risk, adding that although there were usually no obvious sign of high blood pressure, the good news was that it was easy for healthcare professionals to detect the disease, which was usually controllable with lifestyle changes or medication.
“There is vast public misperception and disproportional lack of attention paid to people’s risk of heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure in relation to more sensational health issues,” he noted, indicating that as a result of that people tended to overestimate the number of deaths from rarer and more infrequent risks, while they underestimated those from more common causes such as heart disease and stroke.
Dr Kwamin said studies had shown that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables was related to 17 per cent reduction in coronary heart disease.
According to him, the treatment of cardiovascular diseases alone in the country cost the nation more than 80 per cent of what was spent on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) annually and so the essence of the celebration was to advocate the prevention of the risks, instead of spending a lot of money on treatment.
The former Chief Executive of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, appealed to all Ghanaians, especially his colleague doctors who smoked, to refrain from the habit, since it served no purpose.
He said he was calling on his colleague doctors who smoked to join the campaign against smoking and limit their alcohol consumption because “charity begins at home”. Also, a lot of people smoked with the excuse that even doctors smoked.
He said almost 90 to 95 per cent of operations conducted on young adults in the Cardiovascular Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital were diseases of the heart valves.
He said statistics indicated that about 8,000 people needed operations annually on diseases involving the heart but said out of the number only 400 people could receive medical care, adding that Ghana should be on the prevention side instead of treatment.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng advised against the use of medicines that contained steroids, noting that when the chemicals from the steroids got into the blood stream, they killed all the melanocytes — the organisms that produces melanin, a substance that protects the human skin from the sun’s ultra-violet rays, leading to skin cancer and heart diseases.
Some of the activities to mark the day on September 28, 2008 include health checks, organised walks, runs and fitness sessions, public talks, stage shows, scientific forums, exhibitions, concerts, carnivals and sports tournaments.
It is organised by the Ghana Heart Foundation, the National Cardiothoracic Centre, the Ghana Society of Hypertension and Cardiology, Health Page and the Federation of the Ghana Medical Students Association, with support from the GHS, the World Health Organisation and the WHF.