Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease, including stroke, heart
failure and kidney disease, has been common in sub-Sa-
haran Africa for many years, and rapid urbanization is
causing an upsurge of ischaemic heart disease and meta-
bolic disorders. At least two-thirds of cardiovascular deaths
now occur in low- and middle-income countries, bringing a
double burden of disease to poor and developing world
economies. High blood pressure (or hypertension) is by far
the commonest underlying risk factor for cardiovascular
disease. Its prevention, detection, treatment and control in
sub-Saharan Africa are haphazard and suboptimal. This is
due to a combination of lack of resources and health-care
systems, non-existent effective preventive strategies at a
population level, lack of sustainable drug therapy, and
barriers to complete compliance with prescribed medica-
tions. The economic impact for loss of productive years of
life and the need to divert scarce resources to tertiary care
are substantial.
implementation of effective preventive and therapeutic
strategies remain scanty. The Global Burden of Disease,
Injuries and Risk Factor Study is the first systematic and
comprehensive attempt to map and quantify risk factors
and diseases to identify emerging threats to population
health and opportunities for prevention [2–5]. Of particular
interest, the analyses of the burden of death and disability
attributable to modifiable risk factors have identified
emerging threats in risk factors traditionally seen in
developed countries, like tobacco smoking, obesity and
high salt intake [2–7]. They explain the surge in the burden
of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in sub-Saharan Africa,
namely hypertension, renal disease, and heart failure. This
upsurge of the CVD epidemic poses an additional burden
on the already over-burdened health-care systems in these
settings creating critical challenges to both national health
systems and policy development that can impede the
development of a strategic plan to address the CVD
epidemic.
