The Federal Ministry of Health, FMOH, says it has concluded plans to conduct the National Steps Survey for Non Communicable Diseases – NCDs, including hypertension, so as to improve on hypertension prevalence data gap.
The Minister of health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who disclosed this at a press briefing commemorating the 2023 World hypertension day celebration in Abuja, noted that upon completion of the survey, Nigeria will have nationally representative data of the prevalence of hypertension and associated risk factors for proper planning and designing of interventions to curb the development of hypertension in the country.
Hypertension, an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, CVDs, mostly heart attack, stroke, and heart failure which account for a significant burden of premature mortality from non-communicable diseases.
Briefing journalists on this year’s celebration with the theme, “Measure Your Blood Pressure Accurately, Control It, Live Longer”, the minister of health Dr. Osagie, said, government has included additional three hundred and sixty Primary Health Centres across seventeen States plus the FCT to provide hypertension prevention, treatment and care services under the Healthy Heart Africa (HHA) Programme that was launched in August 2022.
The Minister, represented by the Director of Public Health, Dr. Alex Okoh, said already, there are one hundred and four Primary Health Centres in Kano and Ogun States, and counted Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Akwa-ibom, Delta, Rivers and the FCT among the new seventeen States supported by the HHA Programme, and reiterated that hypertension is preventable and can easily be detected and treated as its control is paramount in reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease in the country.
In a goodwill message the World Health Organisation’s Technical Officer Non-Communicable Diseases, Dr. Mary Dewan, said WHO has prioritized decentralized management and care for NCDs including hypertension.
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