A Professor of Cardiology at the University of Abuja, Prof. Dike Orji, has revealed that 38.1 percent of adult Nigerians suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension), making it one of the most widespread health conditions in the country.

He lamented that awareness, treatment, and control of the disease remain critically low.

Speaking at a plenary session of the House of Representatives on Tuesday on behalf of the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Alliance, Prof. Orji also noted that around 5.7 percent of Nigerian adults live with diabetes, with urban areas recording higher prevalence than rural regions.

He said most of the cases are type 2 diabetes, often driven by poor diet and sedentary lifestyles.

Citing studies, the cardiologist warned that nearly 40 percent of Nigerians above age 18 are at risk of hypertension, underscoring the urgent need for government intervention.

Prof. Orji called for the establishment of a dedicated budget line for hypertension and NCDs.

He urged the government to recommit to the 15 percent Abuja Declaration funding target for the health sector, with specific goals for addressing non-communicable diseases.

He also recommended expanding National Health Insurance coverage to include hypertension treatment due to its high cost, and advocated integrating hypertension screening and management into primary healthcare centres nationwide.

He also emphasised the need to complete and publish the long-awaited NCD STEP survey, strengthen oversight on NCD-related policy implementation, establish a National Committee on Hypertension and Diabetes, and support MDAs in enforcing regulations on processed foods with excess salt, sugar, and industrial trans fats.

Prof Orji also said that drawing influence from the process in India, there is the need for government to support the local production of NCD medicines including antihypertensive and pooled procurement of medicines to reduce medication pricing.

He called for repurposing existing medical mission funds to health insurance coverage for constituents especially at PHCs, while broadening the process to cover excess salt products, and scale up of sugar sweetened beverage and tobacco tax and utilize this for NCD control funding.

Prof Dike who is the lead Investigator at the Cardiovascular Research Centre of the University of Abuja said ?It is well known that the burden of NCDs is soaring in Nigeria like other parts of the world. CVDs which are disease affecting the heart and blood vessels lead the pack with HTN occurring in over 31% of the adult population and stroke occurring in 29 of every 100,000 individuals.

?The risk factors fueling these NCDs especially CVD include HTN, DM, Smoking and others as we can see from this slide. By the way HTN is the commonest cause of CVD in Nigeria and the number 1 risk factor for morbidity and mortality globally.

?NCDs are the leading cause of mortality and sudden death syndrome among Nigeria?s most productive age group which is quite worrisome. It has been estimated that 29% of all health-related deaths is due to NCDs and 22% of Nigerian adults die prematurely every year from NCDs. It has also been shown from research that 24% of household food expenditure in Nigeria is eventually spent on NCDS? treatment.

?NCDs especially CVDs do not differentiate law makers from regular citizens. In fact, law makers usually have more CVD risks compared to regular citizens. The ever-increasing burden of NCDs especially CVDs means that something must be done urgently. Coordinated by the NCD Division of FMOH in collaboration with different stakeholders like NCD Alliance of Nigeria, the Vision, Mission & Goal of NCD Control in Nigeria are well spelt.

?With vision being to have a healthy Nigerian population with reduced burden of NCDs and enhanced quality of life for socio-economic development, while the mission is to promote healthy lifestyle in Nigeria and provide a framework for strengthening the health care system using a multisectoral approach for the prevention & control of NCDs. The overarching goal of NCD control is to significantly reduce the burden of NCDs in Nigeria in line with the targets of the third sustainable development goal 3.4.

He said slowly, Nigeria?s NCD Response Landscape is Advancing. From the Health Sector plan launched in 1992, the National Strategic Plan of Action on Prevention and Control of NCDs in 2013 to the National Multi-Sectoral Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, there has been some progress on the policy side with much to be done on implementation.

?The NMSAP aims to reduce the burden of hypertension by 25%, 80% provision of population screening for early NCD management and affordability basic technologies and essential medicines for major NCD management and 30% reduction in salt consumption.

?To guide the reduction of NCDs in the country, the NCD Division of the FMOH has developed a few policy documents including that for salt reduction; reduction of NCDs, treatment of hypertension and TSTS. In addition, there is also a simplified protocol for hypertension control at the primary care level.

?To address the burden of CVDs which is the commonest form of NCDs, there are now a few programmes on controlling hypertension in the community level.

One of the foremost is the NHCI which uses the simplified treatment protocol shown earlier to screen, diagnose and treat simple, uncomplicated hypertension in Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs).

?We also have the hearty Health Africa in 19 states across all the geopolitical regions funded by AstraZeneca. We also have the Hypertension Treatment in Nigeria Programme in 60 primary healthcare facilities in the FCT. After about 3years, hypertension control improved from 23% to 57%

?One important thing we have noticed in our programme as exemplified in the NHCI programme which showed that patients on health insurance coverage had both better clinic attendance and BP control.? (The Nation)