Cardiovascular health refers to the state of a person’s circulatory system (heart and blood vessels). People need to maintain an excellent state of their cardiovascular health to avoid diseases such as heart attacks. The current world trend poses a challenge to people maintaining good cardiovascular health. This is because of the lifestyle people are living, including their eating habits.
Sierra Leone is one of the countries that have very high cardiovascular risk factors.
Cardiovascular Health and Risk Factors
Risk factors for cardiovascular disease involve some habits or behaviors that increase a person’s risk of having a cardiovascular issue. Cardiovascular disease and their risk factors are the main cause of death in the globe. Diseases come from lifestyle change towards high-calorie foods and inactiveness.
Cardiovascular Conditions and Countries
People usually considered these conditions as issues only for high-income states. However, low- and middle-income states have joined the course. Over three-quarters of fatalities due to cardiovascular conditions are in low- and middle-income states.
Organizations still focus their aid financial plans for low-and middle-income states in maternal and child health despite the disease problem.
What Researchers Found
Researchers carried out a study and found out that cardiovascular diseases risk factors in the country are highly common. The study also gave details on the access to care for people with such complaints.
Cardiovascular risk factors are preventable while cardiovascular illnesses are irreversible and need high-cost treatment. States such as Sierra Leone that have challenges in their health services cannot care for a lot of people with cardiovascular illnesses. Hence, people with these complaints are likely to lose their lives.
Access to Care and Funding for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors
Sierra Leone is one country in the world that has little wealth. Poverty has prevented the growth of the health system and services. Besides, the services cannot deal with cardiovascular illnesses.
Some researchers conducted a household survey that had members who were over 40 years in 2018. The study questions asked about data such as age and history of cardiovascular disease risk factors. The researchers also gathered information on height, blood sugar, and weight.
More than three-quarters of people older than the age of 40 had a cardiovascular disease risk factor. About 50% of the people more than 40 had hypertension. In their findings, they found that access to care for people with diabetes and hypertension was at a low level.
With funding, the country gets its support from international aid. 3 years ago, the state got more than $150 million in developing the health system. Over $25 million went to HIV/AIDS, more than $20m for child health, and $14m for maternal health. The country got less than a million dollars for non-communicable illnesses inclusive of cardiovascular disease risk factors.
The research shows that the weight of cardiovascular disease risk factors is unequally higher than the sum of cash to manage it. The high occurrence of these conditions should trigger the health service organizers to act.
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