ZIMBABWEANS are at high risk of developing coronary heart diseases with many of them having hypertension as a risk factor, a cardiologist said on Monday.
By Kudakwashe Pembere
Dr Yuandong Jiang, a cardiologist from the 17th Chinese Medical team in the country is of the opinion that about 80 percent of Zimbabweans suffer from hypertension.
He said this at a training workshop for the country’s health sector on preparedness and response of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). He said the possible effects of the coronavirus to the cardiovascular system were hypertension, coronary heart disease, effects of myocardial injury and cardiac function and suddenly arrhymia and sudden cardiac death.
“I think, I really think, there are 70 to 80 percent of Zimbabweans with hypertension because you eat too much salt. Every time you eat chickens, you eat fish and chips, its real. I’m so scared. There I’m talking about heart diseases,” Dr Jiang said.
He bemoaned the financial burden on Zimbabweans which results in poor health seeking behaviour.
“There so many coronary heart diseases in Zimbabwe because there are so many heart diseases, diabetes, obesity. So those people are either going to get coronary heart disease but they die very young. The situation I found here as a clinician is that there are not so many patients when we take the take the Ultrasound or CT scan for the heart because we need to pay too much money when you don’t have no money,” he said.
Other risk factors for coronary heart diseases other than hypertension include stress, diabetes, inactivity, smoking, alcohol and obesity.
As of September last year, the diabetes prevalence rate was estimated to be 10 percent in the country owing to the lifestyles of exercising less and the type of food.
In an interview with HealthTimes, Harare based podiatrist who specialists in diabetes Diana Chapoterera Bulle said this year the prevalence of diabetes could have risen to 10 percent.
“I would estimate the prevalence of diabetes as of June this year to be around 10 percent. The reason is largely the lifestyles we have. We don’t have a culture of exercising and the type of food we are eating now,” she said. “The prevalence of diabetes is on the rise and according to research in Zimbabwe, it is estimated to be at 5, 7 percent. Despite the increase and awareness of diabetes a lot of patients are not meeting targets for dysemy control low density lipoproteins, cholesterol and non-smoking status.”
Chapoterera-Bulle also noted that there is a huge gap between ideal care and actual diabetes care. “Diabetes management is multifaceted. Our healthcare system is more acute oriented and not equipped to manage chronic diseases. The future of diabetes will be shaped by frightening projections of increased incidence producing more devastating complications and higher costs,” she said.
