The month of May has been named as the May Measurement Month. It is the month in which stakeholders provide and intensify education on hypertension. At the Kidney Health International, the month is spent by the volunteers of the NGO going round institutions, communities and organized groups educating the public about hypertension and checking the blood pressure of people in the public.
The interest of the KHI in getting people to know about hypertension is because hypertension is one of the causes of chronic kidney disease and just like kidney disease, people might live with hypertension without knowing.
The volunteers at the end of the month visited a countless number of churches, organizations and other organized institutions. These institutions benefited from health talks on hypertension.
Some of the places that were visited are:
Atonsu Church of Pentecost, Women’s Ministry
Apire Church of Pentecost
Obuasi, Altar of Grace church
Garment of Grace church, Koforidua
The Bantama maket
Methodist church of Ghana- Asenua
Church Of God – Kronum
Methodist – Kronum
National Communication Authority – Kumasi
Deeper Life Bible Church – Wenchi
St. John’s Catholic Church – Abuakwa Agogo
The National Communications Office, Kumasi
The Methodist Church, Breman
Christian Mothers at the All Saints Catholic Church, Santasi, Kumasi
There were some public places that were visited to mark the World Hypertension Day, these were the:
Race course market and the Bantama market
The volunteers who worked gallantly to ensure that these places were reached with the messages on how to prevent hypertension and by extension kidney disease expressed satisfaction at how they were received.
Preventive health is not something many Ghanaians are enthused about. Many people rather get excited about hearing the word “cure” and it is one reason why many people fall into the hands of quacks, all in the name of finding a cure for one disease or the other.
The Director of KHI, Dr Elliot K. Tannor was full of praise for these gallant volunteers who are always on the ground to respond to calls for public education on kidney disease prevention.