NIHR Research Unit IN UK !
Look whose photo was on the front page of a research study all the way from Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. The Institute for Global Health and Development at Queen Margaret University.
Ten years ago, my first visit back to Sierra Leone in over 20 years was to attend the funeral of my father, whose death was a result of untreated high blood pressure. A few years later, on one of my visits to Sierra Leone, I did a series of impromptu screenings in Freetown. Of the 200 hundred+ men and women I checked around the country, 3 out of every 10 were hypertensive. I distributed flyers with information on the risks of high blood pressure, which left untreated, can cause blockages in the arteries leading to your heart and brain, potentially causing a heart attack or stroke. It also emphasized the importance of screening and treatment.
Throughout Sierra Leone, the lack of public health education and limited access to screening for common conditions were major contributors to the high premature death rates in Sierra Leone.
Research Summary from the NCD Study
‘Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, as well as disability burden worldwide, disproportionately affecting people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Without commensurate measures to mitigate the increasing burden, morbidities and mortalities attributable to NCDs are projected to continue, particularly in LMICs where NCD- related mortalities could increase to 41.8 million by 2030 compared to 30.8 million in 2015. A cross-sectional population-based survey found high prevalence of NCD risk factors (e.g. tobacco use, alcohol consumption, raised blood pressure, unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity) among adult (aged 25-64 years) Sierra Leoneans. Nonetheless, there is dearth of research evidence on burden, as well as interventions and policies to mitigate the observed NCD trend in Sierra Leone, as in other LMICs.’
Download the study here. https://www.qmu.ac.uk/.../ncd-scoping-review-14092018.pdf
