Avoidable deaths?
In Nigeria over the years, there have been cases of sudden deaths of people, some which could have been avoided.
From the spate of sudden deaths in the country, a team of Nigerian pathologists have urged Nigerians to always check their blood pressure and reduce their consumption of Western diets.
The recommendations were based on findings from a ten-year national survey on the causes of sudden death in Nigeria, which showed high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, to be the leading cause of heart failure and sudden death in the country.
Presenting their report during a symposium organised by the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) on 21 Tuesday, 2017, themed, “Sudden death in Nigeria: Public dissemination of national survey findings”, the researchers who divided their findings presentation into three segments, noted that if no urgent step is taken to stem the negative tide, the rate of sudden death in the country may continue to be on the rise.
The study, which was conducted across the six geopolitical zones of the country, enrolled eleven tertiary medical institutions and one police clinic.
According to the researchers, a total of 642 cases of sudden death were autopsied during the review period, and the South-West region accounted for 70.9 percent of the total data used for the study.
It was also noted that the population sample had more males than females, with the most prevalent risk factor identified as hypertension, which accounted for 52 percent of the cases.
The findings identified risk factors of sudden death to include cardiovascular, respiratory and central nervous system disorders as the commonest causes, with the predominant factor being hypertension.
Moreover, inadequate knowledge, perception and practice on sudden death and related activities were recorded among healthcare workers in the country.
Based on their findings, the researchers proposed the following for national adoption: Advocacy to emphasise importance of autopsies; addressing socio-cultural barriers to autopsies; developing an algorithm for sudden death reporting in Nigeria; establishment of sudden death reporting in Nigeria; enactment and improvement of implementation of Coroner law and PME practices in Nigeria; development of key BCC messages to permeate the various cultural, religious and ethnic divides in the country; and development of biomarkers for early identification of persons with high risk factors of sudden death in the environment.
The NIMR Director General, Professor Babatunde Salako, emphasised the essence of regular blood pressure check, noting that though hypertension is the easiest disease to diagnose, it is, unfortunately, the leading cause of sudden death in the country.
He therefore urged all Nigerians to always seek the assistance of their caregivers to check their blood pressure as often as possible, in order to reduce the burden of sudden heart failure in the country.
This is the case of the situation we have in Nigeria especially as the economic hardship continues to bite hard. While some Nigerian know their state of health, others do not even bother to find out because they say that what you don’t know doesn’t kill you. I really beg to differ on this.
Your knowledge of your health situation or status can help you take proactive measures which can lead to a better life. Granted we know that one may not be able to afford the desired medical care due to a number of issues ranging from lack of acces to proper and adequate medical facilities, unavailability of professional and quality care, inadequate personnel, high cost of medication and the likes, it’s expedient that you first know and then work with the knowledge that you have.
There was a recent case of a man who collapsed in the office while working and died on the spot. Another story was told of a man who got into his car and was about to drive out and then couldn’t as he had obviously collapsed on the steering. There are several tales of people just seeing someone and the next thing you hear is the person’s death. Yes, we cannot take away the God factor in all these, however, what efforts do we make with our health. Some of us are the weapons fashioned against ourselves as we do the very thing we are not supposed to do.
We go taking substances that we know are outrightly harmful to us. No two persons have the same body systems hence what A can take may not be favourable for B. Some persons know what they are dealing with yet fail to take proper precaution or care.
Health, they say is wealth. A healthy person stands the chance of living a productive life.
There are situations when the health status of a person is known yet he or she does not have the means of taking care of his or herself. Coupled with the fact that there is lack of access to quality heath care particularly in the rural communities, a lot of persons cannot even afford good medical care. Some ailments are avoidable. Even when some health issues are hereditary and genetic, they can be properly managed or handled.
How do you look at a case where a person is outrightly told not to take or eat some things and those are the exact things the person eats? Something must kill somebody the say but again, what is the quality of life you live?
With the high availability of processed foods we have around and some genetically modified foods, we need to take intentional care of what we eat and how we eat.
There are too many cases of high blood pressure, diabetes right now in Nigeria. Even children lower than ten years of age are being diagnosed of these ailments. In the past, we had few cases of these diseases; however the reverse is now the case as almost 5 out of 10 persons have high blood pressure issues. Yes, the times are hard and the situation calls for solutions, however we need to help ourselves.
A colleague was involved in a health campaign recently and complained that about 90% of all those who came to have their blood pressure checked had them on the high side. From the young to the old, there is an alarming increase in avoidable deaths. We need to stop taking things that will harm us. Some things that we ingest could lead to long term issues of organ failure and then we begin to run from pillar to post. God is certainly there to help us but can we do the needful. Our health is paramount and needs to be guarded. It’s not all about the government. What about you? When last did you have a routine checkup? When last did you take that walk or go for exercise. Remember stress is not exercise. A little here and a little day can lead to unavoidable deaths.
