Cardiovascular Diseases in Nigeria has Doubled — Chief of Cardiology, LUTH
Following a double fold increase in cardiovascular diseases like stroke and hypertension in Nigeria, Chief of Cardiology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Professor Jane Ajuluchukwu, has described Nigerians above 45 years that refrain from yearly medical checkups as a time bomb.
Professor Ajuluchukwu, speaking at the fifth annual Nigerian Cardiovascular symposium with the theme “Advancing Cardiovascular Education, Research and Patient Care” stated that without such annual medical checks, they will not know if any of these diseases are brewing in them.”
The expert said such an examination will ensure they know their weight, blood pressure, cholesterol level, blood sugar level as well as other things like prostate-specific antigen in men, and thus be able to predict their chances of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as stroke, heart attack or heart failure.
The don said “we are seeing our young people developing stroke and heart disease early. Non Communicable Diseases are the topmost killer diseases among adults, it is now an epidemic. They are lifestyle related.”
Professor Ajuluchukwu listed other risk factors for cardiovascular as high salt intake, sedentary living, poor consumption of fruits and vegetables, and lack of physical exercises.
According to her, “when an individual has many risk factors, then he is likely to come down with the problem. Hypertension has the bad name of the silent killer. So while it is doing its bad work, people do not know until it strikes down with heart failure or stroke.”
Moreover, he said preventing these diseases is cheaper than treatment, aside from Nigeria’s few cardiologists to cater for its teeming population.
She also emphasised on increased public awareness and screening for CVDs to prevent them as well as providing healthcare professionals at every level to take care because these diseases are silent.
President, Cardiovascular Education Foundation, Dr Obinnaya Emerole, said the symposium was to bring cardiologists together to learn from each other and come up with better ways of addressing the challenge of providing optimal cardiovascular care in Nigeria’s limited resource environment.
This collaborative effort with cardiovascular specialists in the diaspora, he assured will help bridge the gap in the knowledge and training of cardiologists and to ensure access to advanced cardiology interventions,
According to Dr Emerole, “there are not enough human and materials resources for the care of cardiovascular diseases, so we just have to learn to the best we can, while advocating more resources and training of more experts in this field of medicine.”
Dr Emerole also urged that more be done to reduce out of pocket spending for cardiovascular diseases, saying its treatment is very expensive.
By: Sade Oguntola
Nigeria Tribune News
