The Keta Municipal Health Directorate in the Volta Region has educated the public on the importance of commemorating “World Hypertension Day” to create awareness of the causes, effects and prevention of the disease.
The exercise focused on educating the public about facts, misconceptions, complications and how to minimise the risk factors of hypertension.
Dora Kugbonu, the Public Health Promotion Officer of the Keta Municipal Health Directorate, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, to commemorate Day, described the disease as a condition where the patient’s blood pressure remained consistently high, usually around 140/90 mmHg and above.
“Hypertension sometimes does not show any signs or symptoms until it is too late, and that is the reason why everybody needs to visit the health facility regularly for check-ups, for early detection,” she said.
She explained that while everybody was at risk of hypertension, others were at a higher risk due to their exposure to certain risk factors such as their excessive salt intake, eating foods high in fat, lack of exercise, high alcohol intake and smoking, among others.
Kugbonu said that the risk factors for hypertension could be non-modifiable where one had control over factors such as excessive salt consumption, eating foods high in fats and oils, and lack of regular physical activity.
There could also be modifiable factors such as family history, ageing, existing diabetes or kidney disease, among others.
“To avoid complications of hypertension, one must adhere to medical advice, take medicine as prescribed, honour hospital appointments and reduce stressful activities,” she said.
She outlined some complications of hypertension as blindness, heart attack, irregular heartbeat, stroke, kidney failure and death, but explained that while the disease was not communicable, which could be transmitted or transferred from one person to another.
She advised the public to always visit the nearest health facilities to get screened for early detection for effective management when they experienced unusually and uncomfortable feelings such as severe headache, dizziness, blurred vision or other vision problems.
She said the Keta Municipal Health Directorate had commenced hypertension-free screening exercises for all manner of persons from May 17th to the end of the month and urged the public to prioritise their health by visiting the Keta Municipal hospital for the test.
Kugbonu said World Hypertension Day was celebrated annually on May 17, and the theme for 2025 was “Measure Your Blood Pressure Accurately, Control It, Live Longer”.
