A lady in a photo above riding a bicycle in Kampala. Riding is a form of exercise and good for ones health.
Roselyn Nabirye suffered mild stroke, little did she know that she had a heart problem.
Nabirye like many Ugandans had never thought of having medical check on her heart.
According to Ministry of Health (MoH) in Uganda in about 3900 people 100 of these suffer from hypertension, in these adults found 70% had never had their blood pressure checked and 76% of these with raised Blood Pressure were untreated.
The ministry also reports that about one in 10 people surveyed had
more than three risk factors for Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and among adults aged 40-69 there was a risk of Cardiovascular Disease CVD within 10 years.
It is against this background that the AstraZeneca and MoH have
announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will pave way for implementation of the Healthy Heart Africa (HHA)Â programme.
Uganda is the fifth country in Africa after Kenya Ethiopia, Tanzania
and Ghana to implement the programme whose aim is among others to strengthening the provision of services for the managing and
preventing hypertension.
Other factors include raising awareness of lifestyle risk factors for
CVD using MoH guidelines to standardize care and up skilling health
workers through training and education.
The Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Diana Atwine explained that her ministry is excited about the partnership with AstraZeneca to implement the Healthy Africa programme will contribute to our government’s objective of reversing the high prevalence in the country.
Diana Atwine in a photo above.
Atwine said, “this year’s World Health Day, which is being marked at a time when we are tackling the COVID 19 pandemic offers an opportunity to highlight our common determination to provide quality health care to all Ugandans”.
She said that to achieve this, MoH under the leadership of President
Yoweri Museveni shall continue to spearhead programmes that equip the
health care system with the tools, resources, knowledge and trained
personal required to tackle both communicable and NCDs.
According to National STEPwise survey conducted in 2014 24.3% of
Ugandans had elevated Blood Pressure, while the pre-hypertension ratewas at 37%.
The survey also showed that over 70% of the respondents had never had their Blood Pressure measured and that 76%of those were untreated.
Only 7.7% of the participants with hypertension were aware of their
High Blood Pressure suggesting a burden of undiagnosed and
uncontrolled hypertension in the region.
“In sub Saharan Africa, nearly 30% of the adults were estimated to
have HBP in 2014 the highest prevalence in any region,” the study
indicates.
HHA partners with global and local agencies with the aim of sustainably improving access to hypertension care. HHA also creates education and awareness on lifestyle choice and CVD risk factor, training health care providers and driving care to lower levels of the health care systems, such as primary health care facilities and clinics as well as facilitating access to treatment where appropriate. Since its launching in Kenya in 2014 and subsequently expanding to Ethiopia in 2016, Tanzania in 2018 and Ghana in 2019 HHA has conducted over 14.5million blood pressure screening in communities and in health facilities.
The head access to health care, global sustainability, AstraZenca
Ashling Mulvaney said, “we are delighted to partner with MoH to
support governments’ goal of tackling non communicable diseases which are a growing concern for the country.”
Mulvaney said that through HHA, they will be able to identify barriers that hinder access to hypertension care and work together to strengthen the health care system by addressing the prevention, and awareness. According to Uganda Heart Institute experts,  smokers, people who take alcohol and do not excise enough suffer from hear problems.
