Nigeria to participate in world’s largest hypertension screening programme

Nigeria is said to be one of the 100 countries to participate in the global May Measurement Month initiative, one of the biggest public screening exercises for high blood pressure to take place in the world.

Professor Ayo Arije, MMM Nigeria’s country coordinator, speaking in Ibadan said the initiative would be checking blood pressure in millions of people above 18 years that have not had their blood pressure measured in the last one year.

Arije, a consultant nephrologist, stated that the goal of the initiative being led by the International Society of Hypertension and the World Hypertension League was to screen as many people as possible worldwide who have not had their blood pressure measured in the previous year.

The outcome of the exercise that will be taken place in health centres, including teaching hospitals, over the one month period, he said will go a long way to influence government’s policies on treatment and prevention of cardiovascular problems in the country.

He declared, “In Ibadan, there would be more than 10 centres and our target is to reach five million people in order to ascertain the demography of hypertension. The information is very vital to help us to know where to lay emphasis.

“We want people to know what their blood pressure is and what they need to do next. Every year 10 million people around the world die needlessly because of high blood pressure, making it the planet’s single biggest killer.

“They will suffer a stroke, have a heart attack, or die from another cardiovascular complication linked to hypertension. And the real tragedy is that only around half of those who die this way will even have known they had raised blood pressure. We want to change this, starting now this month, May.”