Different experts on hypertension management are in Kigali to discuss means to lessen the burden caused by high blood pressure, a serious medical condition that significantly increases the risks of heart, brain, kidney and other diseases.

Organised by Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) in collaboration with Rwanda College of Physicians (RCP), the two-day symposium will run until July 22.

It is also in line with the celebration of World Hypertension Day under the Theme, "Measure Blood Pressure, Control it."

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), hypertension is a major cause of premature death worldwide.

An estimated 1.28 billion adults aged 30-79 years worldwide have hypertension, most (two-thirds) living in low-and middle-income countries, and 46 per cent of adults with hypertension are unaware that they have the condition.

According to Prof. Charlotte Baguma, a University lecturer and leader of Rwanda College of Physicians (RCP), Rwandans who are known to have hypertension are 15 per cent as per research done in 2012, though she thinks it will increase as health bodies keep mobilising people to do check-ups.

She noted that through the symposium, they are mobilising experts in hypertension management to enforce hypertension testing because the disease has no symptoms and can only be detected when one is tested.

"We also encourage every patient to ask for their blood pressure number whenever they go to the hospital,” she said.

"In school, we teach students to test the blood pressure of every patient that approaches them. Every doctor should pay attention to the patient’s blood pressure number, explain to them what it means and advise them on what they need to do.”

Baguma also noted that through the symposium, they are also looking at new factors that make people have hypertension.

"In the past, we knew that hypertension could only be diagnosed in people who are fat or those who smoke, but today, we see people without any of those dynamics with hypertension.

"It is possible that there are other things that cause hypertension that we do not know well yet. We are going to work with these professionals to set up a research activity that’ll make us understand the reasons so that we can take other measures to treat the condition,” she said.

Dr Francois Uwinkindi, Division Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases Division at RBC, said that according to a research done in 2019, 46 percent of Rwandans live with high blood pressure unknowingly because they do not do check-ups.

Dr Francois Uwinkindi, Division Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases Division at RBC delivers remarks during the symposium in Kigali. Craish Bahizi

He urged the public to approach health facilities and do check-ups so that they can start taking medicines in case they are diagnosed with hypertension.

"Hypertension is a silent killer. You start displaying symptoms when it has gotten far from being treated. We don’t want you to wait for the symptoms; you have to do the check-up earlier,” he said.

Uwinkindi also noted that RBC is raising awareness about the condition and has brought testing services close to people at health centres, adding that they also plan to empower Community Health Workers with skills that help them to conduct hypertension tests and advise people they look after on what they can do.

According to him, some of the things that increase the risk of getting hypertension include smoking, taking too much alcohol, not doing enough sports and eating junk food with too much sugar or salt.

Research has also shown that eating vegetables and fruits can delay being affected by hypertension as well as other non-communicable diseases.