18% Pakistanis have hypertension, mainly due to salty diet

[Naveed Yaseen]

High blood pressure is the largest single cause of death worldwide through strokes, heart attacks and kidney diseases, while 18 per cent of Pakistan’s population is hypertensive, of which 97 per cent are uncontrolled, said Professor Mohammad Ishaq, President of Pakistan Hypertension League (PHL).

Speaking at a press conference held in Karachi on Thursday, he said that high salt intake is one of the major reasons for hypertension. It is an established fact that reducing salt intake by half saves approximately 2.5 million deaths a year from strokes and heart attacks worldwide.

The PHL is observing World Hypertension Day throughout Pakistan on May 17 (tomorrow). The day is organised worldwide every year under the auspices of World Hypertension League (WHL). This year’s theme for the day is ‘Salt and High Blood Pressure: Two Silent Killers’.

“To counter this menace, the PHL recommends cutting down on foods high in sodium, eating in moderation, the servings of processed foods and eating whole heartedly only those foods that are low in sodium,” said Ishaq. Hypertension is a common public health problem. The Pakistan Medical Research Council (PMRC) data published in 1997 revealed that 18 per cent of the Pakistani population has high blood pressure. There are an estimated 12 million hypertensives in Pakistan. This is an alarming situation. It was in recognition of this problem and the challenge of urgently doing something, that the PHL was founded in 1995 and officially launched in 1997, by a group of physicians.

Professor Ishaq also added that to promote the objective of the PHL, an educational symposium for General Practitioners is being organised at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital on the morning of May 16 (today) while mass scale public screening for blood pressure and its risk factors (sugar, cholesterol, Body Mass Index etc) will be held at kidney Institute and Tabba Heart Institute on the same day.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=177851