Information from the Wa Municipal Health Directorate has revealed that more than 90 percent of new hypertension and diabetes cases recorded last year were among young people aged between 18 and 30. This development has been attributed to poor lifestyle and eating habits of the group.
Speaking to Radio Ghana on the sidelines of the 2018 Annual Performance Review Conference at Wa the Municipal Health Information Officer Oswald Dachaga expressed concern about the worrying new trend in hypertension and diabetes cases recorded at the various health facilities.
“The fried rice, the indomie puts a lot of oil in your system. The more fat accumulates in your arteries; it narrows the pipelines through which the blood flows. As the pathway narrows, the blood would have to pump with a lot more difficulty and that is what gives rise to what we call hypertension.”
Mr. Dachaga said years before, Diabetes and Hypertension were cases recorded among aged people or expectant mothers.
He said things have begun to change due to the inability of young people to exercise and eat well. “We will have to watch what we will eat. Exercise is also important. The exercise does not mean you get up and run all day. Just walking between 2 and 3 kilometers every morning or evening is enough.
Mr. Dachaga mentioned the Bamahu Sub-district as one of the areas topping in emerging cases of hypertension.
The Annual Performance Review was to take stock of the previous year, celebrate the successes chalked up and plan for the year.
On malnutrition, Mr. Dachaga said although the Municipality is doing quite well, there are some worrying cases in some sub-districts like Bamahu and Kambali.
A Senior Staff Midwife at the UDS hospital Mrs. Eunice Sarfo who spoke to Radio Ghana on why malnutrition still persists in the sub-district explained that “the mothers are to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months before complementary feeding. We teach you the things to give the baby if they were able to do what we say, this [malnutrition] would have been prevented. They [breastfeeding mothers] do not also come to the hospital because we give health talks on nutrition and personal hygiene.”
The performance review attracted staff of the GHS from all the sub-districts in the Wa Municipality, assembly members as well as some traditional rulers. The review centred on “Achieving Universal Health Coverage; Harnessing the collaboration of community members in service delivery.”
Story by Mark Smith
