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Africa Vs Cardiovascular diseases
This post was shared on this platform few a weeks ago and it caught my eyes, so I would like us to discuss it further.🤔
Well, according to the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), cardiovascular diseases, cancers and COVID-19 caused the highest number of deaths globally in 2021, with COVID-19 being responsible for most deaths in South America and sub-Saharan Africa😔.
👉The main question here is do you think cardiovascular diseases are given as much attention as they deserve in Africa?🤔
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4 Replies
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I will answer this first and unfortunately my answer is NO. Our continent has a huge burden of dealing with infections diseases, poverty, corruption, poor infrastructures, lack of education etc. Due to these factors these diseases are often overshadowed and even when diagnosed in most cases it is usually at a very late stage thus poor prognosis for patients.
Although I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with the ongoing campaigns against non-communicable diseases especially in my country Tanzania, we still have a long way to go!🙂
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Our health system is hanging on a thread due to these diseases. The costs of handling them are not affordable to the peoplr and thr government. Looking at the burden and given many are diseases of lifestyles I think our best strategy will be prevention and early detection strategies. Let’s innovate on how we can scale up screening, prevention knowledge, measures and awareness. Let’s use technology to reach wider community. <div>
Let’s push to what works for Africans, many of the diseases that lead to cardiovascular issues are affecting Blacks and Hispanics but the trials for medications are done to the whites, so we use what works for whites hoping it’ll work for us. Let’s push for clinical trials to be done in Africa, educate our societies on involvement in Clinical Trials.
My take is let’s innovate, innovate and innovate.
</div> @Frank
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This reply was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by Innocent H..
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Good point Innocent @DrUggh
And, while revamping our health systems is an intervention that takes time needing a systemic approach, as researchers we can play our part by developing low-cost mechanisms, adaptable to our context and enable decision-makers with the right evidence.
But I wonder, do we have useful cardiovascular or cancer cohorts that inform our evidence? The quotes of hispanics and blacks is mainstreaming from studies done in west esp in the US. These populations and context doesnt fully reflect African or the local contexts where our patients and general populations come from.
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This reply was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by
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