Lack of exercise main cause of heart ailments

By Ngumbao Kithi

Fourty per cent of Nairobi women may be victims of heart disease due to lack of physical exercise and poor lifestyle, the Cardiac Society of Kenya has said.

The secretary of the society, Bernard Gitura, raised concern over rising occurrence of heart ailments.

He was speaking on Thursday at the annual scientific conference in Mombasa whose theme is Sustainable primary cardiovascular care in Kenya.

Dr Gitura claimed Kenyans have ignored the importance of physical exercise and balanced diet, which cause obesity and other lifestyle diseases.

“The problem in Nairobi now is the huge traffic jam and the time people spend to get to work or home. This brings about poor health,” he said.

While the Government has fought malaria and the HIV and Aids pandemic, it has forgotten to discuss heart diseases, which are a major challenge.

Gitura urged employers and Government to introduce health exercises to save treatment costs.

“At the Kenyatta National Hospital, we have heart patients who have stayed there for more than one year waiting to be operated because they do not have the cash to undergo private operation,” he said.

sore throats

Gitura said apart from the open heart disease, most of the ailments like rheumatic diseases are spurred by poverty.

He said lack of treatment of rheumatic disease in children often leads to heart disease in adulthood and advised parents not to ignore sore throat in children.

The cardiologist further said sore throat in children among poor families is a warning for complicated heart problems at old age and asked the Government to make available drugs to fight this symptom.

“Solution to heart problem is education, people must understand they must engage in physical education to save themselves from death,” he said.

The expert urged the Government to provide education and make physical education mandatory in public institutions, adding that long traffic jams during the early morning and evening was dangerous.

“I wish to tell Kenyans to eat traditional food and avoid junk food, which is a threat to the population,” he said.