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Kenyans joined the rest of the world in celebrating the World Hypertension Day at an event held in Uhuru Park today which was marked with free screening of the disease for members of the public.
The Ministry of Health in conjunction with other stakeholders organised the event aimed at creating awareness on the disease in the country.
According to Healthy Heart Africa, over 700,000 people have been identified as living with high blood pressure and they aim at reaching 10 million people living with the condition across Africa.
The event was part of the recently launched month long campaign, Pima Pressure which aims to encourage people to have their blood pressure measured.
The diseases which manifests itself as abnormal high blood pressure is a non communicable disease and is caused by unhealthy lifestyle including poor diet, alcohol and lack of exercise.
Dr. Pacifica Onyancha, the head of Standards, Quality Assurance and Regulations department at the Ministry of Health has advised Kenyans to reduce salt intake, exercise regularly to maintain the ideal body weight to fight the disease.
“Most people with high blood pressure have no symptoms at all and that is why regular check ups are important,” she said.
The event is the 3rd of its kind with the 1st being celebrated in 2015.
Kenyans are encouraged to start living healthy lifestyles and adopt good nutrition to prevent
