-PAHO urges promotion of healthy lifestyles

WITH a population of less than one million, Guyana’s arterial hypertension rate is a growing concern and health officials are being urged to intensify their efforts in managing the chronic condition.

At a virtual press conference held on Thursday, the Pan American Health Organisation’s Director of Non-Communicable Diseases, Dr Anselim Hennis, disclosed that 24.5 per cent of Guyana’s male population and 21.5 per cent of the female population are currently living with hypertension.

According to Dr. Hennis, these numbers can be addressed with more focus being placed on promoting healthy lifestyles and increasing food production.

“Producing more food, more fruits and vegetables for a country like Guyana has a lot of capacity. Guyana comprises of 82,000 square kilometers and a population of less than a million people, it can well be the Caribbean food basket in terms of food production in terms of fruits and vegetables,” he said, adding:
“These initiatives would make a tremendous difference in the quality of life and food production in the CARICOM sub region.”

Trinidad and Tobago was also listed as one of the Caribbean nations with a high hypertension rate.

Meanwhile, PAHO’s Director, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, has urged countries to intensify efforts to improve the management of hypertension.

According to Dr. Barbosa, with much more emphasis being placed on targetted initiatives and the implementation of ongoing projects, some 420,000 lives can be saved in the Americas each year.

“While hypertension affects 180 million people in the Region (18 per cent of adults) it often has absolutely no symptoms nor signs and is therefore frequently undiagnosed and untreated,” Dr. Barbosa.

He said countries must intensify the “scale-up” and ensure equitable access to care for hypertension and provide training to ensure that the latest approaches for diagnosis and treatment are practised in primary health clinics across the region.
Some of these initiatives include PAHO’s HEARTS programme, a model of care for cardiovascular risk management being implemented in 3,000 clinics across the region.

“This is serious because undiagnosed and uncontrolled hypertension can lead to heart attack, heart failure or stroke,” he stressed.

In the Americas, over one-third of men and a quarter of women with hypertension (aged 30 to 79 years) are unaware they have the condition, and of those who are aware they have hypertension and receive treatment, only a third (36 per cent) have it under control.

He further reiterated the implementation of interventions to promote healthy diets, such as front-of-package warning labels on processed and ultra-processed food products, and measures to reduce salt intake.

According to PAHO, lifestyle changes and lifelong use of antihypertensive medications are also key to reducing and controlling the condition.

World Hypertension Day is observed on May 17 each year to raise awareness of the urgent need to promote the prevention, detection and control of hypertension. The theme this year is ‘Measure your blood pressure accurately, Control it, Live Longer.’