No fewer than 50 million Nigerians are hypertensive and diabetic, according to a consultant cardiologist at the University of Ilorin, Prof. Ibrahim Katib.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin that the prevalence should be stemmed by government and concerned individuals, through prevention, rather than cure.
``About 50 million out of over 150 million of Nigeria’s population are suffering from hypertension, while about five million Nigerians are suffering from diabetes.
``Hypertension and diabetes go side by side to cause havoc on individuals”, he said, adding that the high prevalence was global.
He said that about $40 billion was spent annually on the two diseases worldwide.
``If one is hypertensive and wants the blood pressure to be reduced, medication is not the only thing. Once the medication has started; it becomes a life-long thing and cannot be stopped unless the medical personnel says so.
``You have to be up and doing and engaged in regular exercise for the blood pressure to be reduced as doing this will assist greatly to burn some calories within the system”, he said.
He also warned against consumption of alcohol and smoking of cigarette in order to avoid the disease.
NAN reports that hypertension,or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that your heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around your body.
Diabetes mellitus is excessive glucose in a blood sample and in other words, you have too much sugar in your blood.
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