This is my first blog in the month of February. The second month of the year 2022, happy new month. The year is going by so fast my God!!!!! February is also known as the heart month. Before you all go running to Valentine’s Day being the basis for this month being the heart month, it was a month designated to advocate for cardiovascular health and raise awareness about heart diseases. Uncontrolled high blood pressure (hypertension) has over the decades been too common and as you already know, it is also dangerously life threatening.

High blood pressure is also known as a silent killer. It is very possible and also common for one not to have symptoms but still suffer a heart disease or stroke.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide accounting for one-third of deaths in 2019 and the death toll continues to rise, China is in the lead with the highest number of heart disease deaths, followed by India, Russia, the United States and Indonesia according to the latest WHO data published in 2018. Coronary Heart Disease Deaths in Uganda reached 10,442 or 4.02% of total deaths. The age-adjusted Death Rate is 89.59 per 100,000 of population ranks Uganda #134 in the world.

In a report published by WebMD, it was mentioned that heart disease cases nearly doubled over the period from 271 million in 1990 to 523 million in 2019, and the number of heart disease deaths rose from 12.1 million to 18.6 million which is very absurd. In 2019 alone, the majority of heart disease deaths were attributed to ischemic heart disease and stroke, with a steady increase from 1990 according to the same report.

With all this, it is our duty as health care professionals, public health professionals and individuals to change the narrative. If someone tells you high blood pressure is not a big deal, lose them; high blood pressure can affect anyone at any age but the good news is that it can be prevented. For the whole of this month, this space will be dedicated to spreading awareness about hypertension and the best way to take care of our hearts as they are busy taking care of us.

Kindly share these articles with a friend and let us save one more heart this month. I will be back next Wednesday to share some information that you may not be paying attention to yet it is very crucial to the health status of your heart. Things you and I can do for ourselves or loved ones to make sure that we prevent heart diseases.  

Feel free to tell me what you would also want me to enlighten you on during this month about your heart health.