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Walter Sisulu University participated in the May Measurement Month initiative by the International Society for Hypertension to assist communities with early detection of hypertension to avoid late discovery implications.
Thirty-five Department of Human Biology year third-year and Masters students carried out this community engagement project by going to different malls around Mthatha every Saturday for the screening of communities.
Faculty of Natural Sciences Dean, Professor Benedicta Nkeh-Chungag, said: “hypertension is a silent killer, by the time you know you have a problem, it may be a stroke or something that will get you hospitalized. Hypertension in most cases does not have symptoms. We were interested in participating in the screening so that we can assist our community members to know where they stand.”
Nkeh-Chungag further added that the Hypertension Society said in every country that they have members, people must be screened once a year and be advised about their blood pressure and those that are hypertensive be advised about taking medication.
“WSU came on board in 2018, this is when where it was registered as a site for this initiative. We go out to the community and offer free blood pressure screening services and measure the body mass index (BMI) because it is a contributor to blood pressure and we have been doing it since then,” said Nkeh-Chungag.
The project was initially meant to be done in May because of mild weather conditions, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, there were not many participants which lead to it being extended to August.
Human Biology master’s degree student, Chuma Mabuto, said: “We are getting a positive response from the community. At a station we get around 100 participants a day. Others we approach them and tell them who we are and where we come from, then they would participate, others just come voluntarily and ask what we are doing and participate.”
Mabuto further said that they have had encounters of people who had very high blood pressure, but they could not conclude that they are hypertensive, so they gave them referral letters to refer them to their closest clinics and hospitals.
With the screening they have done so far, they have discovered that the number of people that have normal blood pressure is relevantly the same with those who had high blood pressure.
Another Human Biology masters's degree student, Ebenezer Ackar, said: “One of the aspects of this project is to raise awareness about the disease. People are now more aware of their state when it comes to hypertension and are able to go to their local clinics to seek help if there’s an alarming blood pressure reading. People hardly ever do these screenings and measure their BMIs.”
After the screening is concluded, the project will move to WSU where people will measure their weight and waist circumference. This will contribute to research in the university where WSU employees will be catered for as well.
By Anita Roji
