Health experts raise concerns over 80m Nigerians at risk of hypertension

About 80 million adult Nigerians, representing 40 percent of the country’s population, are said to be at risk of hypertension, raising concerns among health experts and medical practitioners.

This means the country’s fight against Coronavirus and other non-communicable diseases (NCD) may be tougher than previously thought, according to the experts who identified hypertension as number one heart disease.

The high number of Nigerians at risk of this disease means too that the government of the day has to do more in the health system to save its adult population and protect the younger generation.

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The health experts who gathered in Lagos to mark 2021 World Hypertension Day with the theme, ‘Measure Your Blood Pressure, Control It, Live Longer’, noted that hypertension was also a major cause of stroke, heart attack, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, abnormal heart rhythms and dementia.

“Cardiovascular Disease (heart disease) is the commonest cause of death in the adult population in Nigeria and hypertension is the number one heart disease affecting about 30 percent of Nigeria’s adult population,” said Basden Onwumere, chairman, Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF).

Onwumere noted that, globally, more than one billion people were known to have hypertension and the figure is expected to increase to 1.5 billion by 2025. “Of greater concern is the fact that more than half of the individuals with hypertension are unaware of it,” he said.