Guyana among several Caribbean countries with worrying hypertension rates

WITH a population of less than one million, Guyana’s arterial hypertension rate is a growing concern and health officials are being urged to intensify their efforts in managing the chronic condition.

At a virtual press conference held on Thursday, the Pan American Health

Organisation’s Director of Non-Communicable Diseases, Dr Anselim Hennis, disclosed that 24.5 per

- PAHO urges promotion of healthy lifestyles

cent of Guyana’s male population and 21.5 per cent of the female population are currently living with hypertension.

According to Dr. Hennis, these numbers can be addressed with more focus being placed on promoting healthy lifestyles and increasing food production.

“Producing more food, region.” more fruits and vegetables for a country like Guyana has a lot of capacity. Guyana comprises of 82,000 square kilometers and a population of less than a million people, it can well be the Caribbean food basket in terms of food production in terms of fruits and vegetables,” he said, adding: “These initiatives would make a tremendous difference in the quality of life and food production in the CARICOM sub

Trinidad and Tobago was also listed as one of the Caribbean nations with a high hypertension rate.

Meanwhile, PAHO’s Director, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, has urged countries to intensify efforts to improve the management of hypertension.

According to Dr. Barbosa, with much more emphasis being placed on targetted initiatives and the implementation of ongoing projects, some 420,000 lives can be saved in the Americas each year.

“While hypertension affects 180 million people in the Region (18 per cent of adults) it often has absolutely no symptoms nor signs and is therefore frequently undiagnosed and untreated,” Dr. Barbosa.

He said countries must intensify the “scale-up” and ensure equitable access to care for hypertension and provide training to ensure that the latest approaches for diagnosis and treatment are practised in primary health clinics across the region.

Some of these initiatives include PAHO’s HEARTS programme, a model of care for cardiovascular risk management being implemented in 3,000 clinics across the region.

“This is serious because undiagnosed and uncontrolled hypertension can lead to heart attack, heart failure or stroke,” he stressed.

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