As country commemorated World Hypertension Day on Sunday, the health ministry unveiled a new programme to improve screening, train more health workers and refurbish facilities to tackle the rising burden of hypertension.
High blood pressure (hypertension) is a common condition in which the long-term force of the blood against your artery walls is high enough that it may eventually cause health problems, such as heart disease.
The new programme dubbed "Healthy Heart Africa (HHA)" programme is intended to tackle the burden of undiagnosed and uncontrolled hypertension in the country.
"We are, therefore, excited to unveil this partnership with AstraZeneca to implement the Healthy Heart Africa programme, which will contribute to our government's objective of reversing the high prevalence of hypertension in our country," she said.
The Head of Access to Healthcare and Global Sustainability at AstraZeneca, Ms Ashling Mulvaney highlighted that the programme that is also operating in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Ghana aims at identifying barriers that hinder access to hypertension care and work to strengthen the healthcare system by addressing the prevention and raising awareness.
