World Hypertension Day marked by KHI at Anwomaso, screens 200 people
World Hypertension Day has been marked by the Kidney Health International yesterday at Anwomaso in the Ashanti Region. The event, which was organized for the Anwomaso and its surrounding communities was sponsored by Property Electronics and the Kidney Specialist Centre.
Hypertension is a major health issue in Ghana. Currently, lots of people who live with high blood pressure don’t know they have the condition. This is because in some cases, people with high blood pressure don’t present with symptoms.
Some fortunate ones get to experience headaches, dizziness and some forms of symptoms. Property Electronics is a company that markets electronic appliances for domestic and commercial purposes. Some of the appliances sold by the company includes refrigerators, microwaves, air conditioners and cooking stoves among many others. The company sponsored the free health screening and health education for the community as part of its corporate social responsibility to the community housing one of its warehouses.
The Kidney Health International is concerned about high blood pressure because, hypertension is one of the causes of chronic kidney disease. Over the years, the organization has marked the World Hypertension Day with various campaigns. Last year 2022, the organization marked the day by visiting markets in the city of Kumasi and ended with a massive educational visit to the Bantama market where sellers were educated and their blood pressures checked.
In all, approximately 200 people were checked. The various tests that were done in addition to the checking of blood pressure were:
- Malaria tests
- Hepatitis B
- Blood Sugar
- Urine Test
- Body Mass Index (BMI)
- Uric Acid Test
Speaking to the media who were present to provide coverage for the exercise, founder and director of the Kidney Health International, Dr Elliot Koranteng Tannor made mention of the fact that, hypertension is such a huge issue in Ghana and yet underrated because it is silent, this is because it doesn’t present itself with symptoms in most people, a reason for which it is tagged as a silent killer. He encouraged participants to reduce their salt intake since there is a direct correlation between high intake of salt and high blood pressure. He also urged
Being the hypertension month, he urged participants and people were passing by to make it a point to regularly check their blood pressure since “you would not know if your pressure begins to rise”
The Administrator for the KHI, Mrs Comfort Osei-Agyemang in her submission to media present stated how much it costs to be treated for complications that come with high blood pressure. She mentioned that, as an organization, the KHI was particularly interested in chronic kidney disease since high blood pressure if not controlled could lead to chronic kidney disease and treatment for it was enormous. As such, she urged the Ghanaian populace to take advantage of such exercises to always have their health status checked and screened since early detection was key in preventing such complications.
On his part, the programs manager, Mr Sylvanus Gatorwu took the time to educate participants at the screening grounds. In his education, he reiterated many of the tips that are mostly given out by Dr Elliot Koranteng Tannor. Some of these tips were for people to control their intake of salt as high intake of salt can increase blood pressure and for people who have been put on medications to ensure that the take their medications religiously.
Participants shared their joy and excitement as they got tested and were counselled by the medical doctors present. Dr Abena Tannor, a co-founder of the KHI also educated the participants present on abstaining from self medications and to rather seek medical attention from qualified medical practitioners. She also mentioned that it was a misconception for people to think that there was some form of remedy outside medical facilities that could “cure” high blood pressure.