Tanzanians have been advised to develop and adopt
the culture of having regular check-up and physical exercise to avoid chronic
heart disease and high blood pressure which is now common in the country. It has
been established.
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| An Instrument used for check-up |
Speaking to reporters in a news conference in Dar es
Salaam at the weekend during the Family Walkathon to mark World Heart Day in
which Tanzania is celebrating for the first time, African Medical Investment
(AMI) Hospital, Internal Medicine Consultant Dr. Jesus Ochoa that it is
important for the people’s to adopt physical exercise in the daily life to improve
their health status.
Dr. Ochoa said that the type of food, life style and
traditional ways of life in Tanzania is accelerating high blood pressure and
chronic heart diseases to majority of citizens across the country.“Majority of people who are fat are at the high risk
of being infected with heart diseases because of the high quantity of
cholesterol within their bodies,” he said.
He further said that the heart diseases in Africa
have taken lives of thousands of people in the continent due to lack awareness
in the public.
Dr. Ochoa said
that AMI hospital has decided to come up with the family walkathon to sensitize
the public the important of having regular check-up and physical exercise.
On his part AMI Hospital Director of Medicine Dr
Humberto Jaine said that the family walkathon is part of the hospital efforts
to conduct free check-up and treatment to heart patience in the country.
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| High blood pressure is a major risk factor for hypertensive heart disease |
He said that Tanzanians should avoid the habit of
having pretty of food with much cholesterol because they will generate heart
diseases in the long run.
‘It is not healthy to gain weight while you don’t
have regular check-ups and exercise in your daily activities,” he noted.
Jaine underscored that Tanzanians should adopt
healthy eating habits to reduce the risk for heart diseases if they want to
live longer.On World Heart Day, 29th September, the World Heart
Federation is calling for people – specifically mothers who are gatekeepers to
the home – to take action now to protect their own heart health, as well as
that of their children and families to safeguard future generations.
World Heart Day was created by the World Heart
Federation in 2000 to inform people around the globe that heart disease and
stroke are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.3 million lives each
year.On 29 September each year, together with its
members, the World Heart Federation aims to drive action to educate people that
by controlling risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet and physical
inactivity, at least 80 percent of premature deaths from heart disease and
stroke could be avoided.
World Heart Day unites people from all countries and
backgrounds in the fight against the CVD burden, and inspires and drives
international action to encourage heart-healthy living across the world.
The focus for this year’s World Heart Day is the
prevention of CVD among women and children, which is a continuation of the 2011
theme; One World, One Home, One Heart.
The main aim is to educate people that the threat of
heart disease can begin even before birth and those children’s risk increases
during childhood with their exposure to risk factors such as unhealthy diet or
exposure to tobacco smoke.
Ends.
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