Unhealthy lifestyles and lack of physical activity are to blame for the rise of heart disease in Kenya.
More Kenyans are being diagnosed with the disease later in their lives after failing to take care of their lives when they were young.
The president of the Kenya Cardiac Society Bernard Gitura warned that if Kenyans do not change their lifestyles, the disease would go up at an alarming rate.
A government study in 2015 showed that 56 per cent of Kenyans have never been screened for hypertension.
“You cannot tackle cardiovascular diseases without people knowing their heart. If another study was to be done today you would be surprised to see that more Kenyans will be diagnosed with heart disease.” Gitura said.
He spoke during the World Heart Day celebrations in Nairobi.
Some of the red flags of heart diseases include; chest pains, swollen legs, excessive sweating and extreme fatigue.
Sedentary lifestyles lead to heart diseases. Kenyans have also been urged to ensure that if they suffer from a sore throat, they are treated properly. If not, it could lead to heart disease later in life.
“If a person has been diagnosed with a sore throat, they must ensure that they get treated, failure to do this, they will end up having rheumatic heart diseases in 10 years to come,” Gitura said.
Rheumatic heart disease is caused by
a bacteria known as streptococcus. This type of infection varies in severity from mild throat infections to life-threatening infections of the blood or organs.
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death in Kenya followed by infectious diseases and cancer.
Hypertension, strokes, heart failures and clots are some of the well-known cardiovascular diseases that are affecting Kenyans.
“We have to shift our focus to cardiovascular diseases because if we do not ,we are going to see the numbers go up.
“We are calling stakeholders in the public and private sector to work together to ensure that the heart health awareness is raised in Kenya.
“Treatment is made easily available and more heart specialists are trained,” consultant cardiologist at Aga Khan hospital Anders Barasa said.