Latest update April 26th, 2026 12:45 AM
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“Pressure”
Yesterday was “World Health Day” and the theme was “High Blood Pressure” or “hypertension”. In Guyana, most people refer to the condition as simply ‘pressure’. The shortened name inadvertently refers to one of the causes of hypertension – stress, which is also called ‘pressure’.
It is perhaps not a coincidence that more than three-quarters of the cases of hypertension are estimated to exist in the developing nations where life is still often ‘nasty, brutish and short’. The abysmal living conditions cannot but produce stress and in turn, ‘pressure’.
Guyana, as the second poorest country in the hemisphere, has not been spared from experiencing the scourge of high blood pressure.
The medical teams that descend into the country ever so often and treat a wide cross-section of the poor in diverse locations routinely report that hypertension is the most common medical problem encountered. The official statistics confirm the numbers: last year it was reported that we have a 9% prevalence rate with some 64,000 cases in Guyana and 15,000 more added annually.
Extrapolating from those two statistics suggests what is actually the case: hypertension is one of the leading causes of death in Guyana caused by a non-communicable disease. It can also lead to cerebral, vascular and ischemic heart diseases, which are the leading causes of death here. Hypertension is popularly dubbed the ‘silent killer’ because it does its insidious damage to various organs within the body – such as kidneys, heart, eyes etc – out of sight of the afflicted person, By the time one becomes aware of the condition, it has already become chronic.
The secret to controlling high blood pressure is, first and foremost, early detection. It normally kicks in after 50 years of age, signalling that the effects are cumulative and therefore avoidable if preventative measures are taken early enough. It should be a routine matter at all the primary health care centres for the blood pressure of patients to be checked and recorded on their charts.
Related to this, there should be an ongoing educational programme in the schools and in over the airwaves, (especially now that we will be having so many radio stations) about the causes and treatment for high blood pressure. Most people do not even know what is the ‘normal’ blood pressure, much less the difference between its components, systolic and diastolic pressures.
As it is, awareness that blood pressure can be controlled is also not very high in the country – especially among the poor where the prevalence is most likely higher.
The latter circumstance, as was mentioned, is caused by the stress on those individuals and by the lifestyles they adopt as they try to cope with the ‘pressures’ of just surviving. There is also their poor diet and lack of access to health facilities.
To wait for six hours to see a doctor is not ‘access’. The Ministry of Health, in conjunction with the WHO, is stressing this year, the relationship of a high salt intake with an increased possibility of developing hypertension.
They should introduce guidelines for salt content in the burgeoning American-style fast food outlets and Chinese restaurants springing up in every nook and cranny.
In addition to lowering salt intake, alcohol and cigarette consumption should also be avoided and a regular exercise regimen followed. As can be surmised, these are habits that must be inculcated very early in one’s life so that the vicissitudes of hypertension can be warded off.
From a treatment standpoint, while the medical clinics around the country do distribute medication to patients with chronic hypertension, the supply is frequently very erratic. Patients are often forced to purchase their own medication which of course, places another burden on the poor.
The supply chain has to be managed mush more stringently and it is hoped that the ‘state of the art’ medical warehouse opened by the government recently will assist distribution. But sadly, the dispensing of the drugs it is not done in conjunction with any sort of holistic programmed that includes the other steps suggested above. This must be rectified.
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