Dr Kow Entsua-Mensah, Director of the National Cardiothoracic Centre, says cardiovascular diseases are increasingly affecting Ghana’s youth, with many deaths occurring at relatively young ages.
He said the situation required greater emphasis on prevention, including regular health checks and healthier lifestyle choices, to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases.
Dr Entsua-Mensah made the remarks when the Centre, in collaboration with MDS Lancet, the University of Ghana Medical Centre, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and other partners, organised a street awareness campaign on cardiovascular diseases in Accra.
He said cardiovascular diseases had reached alarming levels in Ghana, with one out of every two deaths linked to the diseases, and many victims being young people.
“So it is really a shame that something that we can prevent, something that even when it occurs we can manage, we wait until it kills people. And it’s killing people in their youthful age.
“It’s killing people in their 30s, in their 40s, and then in their 50s. Not in the 60s and 70s and 80s that we have known to happen elsewhere. In this country, one out of every two people who die is from cardiovascular disease. And the people are dying in their youthful age,” he noted.
Dr Entsua-Mensah said the situation was an unfolding tragedy that required a collective effort to address, adding that individuals had a responsibility to protect their health.
He urged Ghanaians to prioritise prevention over treatment, saying treatment could be costly and place a financial burden on households.
“If we look at the treatment aspects, then it’s going to take a long time for us to catch up. But we think that if we take this approach of prevention of heart diseases, then we’ll be able to help the population.
”That is why this year we have adopted a theme, ‘Heart disease can hide in plain sight,’” he said.
Dr Entsua-Mensah said lifestyle choices played an important role in preventing heart disease and urged young people to eat healthy diets, sleep adequately, reduce salt intake, exercise regularly and avoid tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption.
“So we have realised that if we actually take our health into our own hands, we exercise, we watch our diet, we sleep adequately, we reduce our salt intake, we avoid tobacco, we avoid drinking alcohol, and we keep exercising and moving.
“We can even reduce the burden of emergencies that we have as a country. And that is where we want to focus. We want to focus on prevention,” he said.
Dr Entsua-Mensah also urged the public to regularly check their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, manage stress, exercise regularly and maintain healthy lifestyles.
The advocacy walk began at Efua Sutherland Park and passed through parts of Osu and the Ministries area, with participants sensitising the public to cardiovascular disease prevention.
The campaign also emphasised the importance of checking blood pressure, blood sugar, body mass index and other vital health indicators.
Source: GNA
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