Celebrating World Health Day
Each year on April 7th, the World Health Organization celebrates the anniversary of its founding with World Health Day. The theme for this year’s celebration is high blood pressure — an unappreciated, yet significant global public health epidemic. High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, contributes to nine million deaths every year. It is a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease such as heart disease and stroke, which is the number one cause of death globally: more people die annually from cardiovascular disease than from any other cause. (data: World Health Organization)
Most people would be surprised to learn that one in three adults worldwide has high blood pressure. Moreover, it is not a condition relegated to the wealthy. Prevalence of high blood pressure is highest in some low-income countries in Africa, with over 40 percent of adults estimated to be hypertensive in many African countries.