Cardiovascular Diseases in Nigeria: Current Status, Threats, and Opportunities

“The greatest killer of our people is high blood pressure. We know that over 30 per cent of the adult population, those who are older than 15 years, have hypertension. Some studies even put it at 40 per cent.”

“The burden is high and is rising every day. Each time we look into the data and epidemiology, all we see is a rising trend and one keeps thinking that we will get to the plateau, but it appears we are not yet to the plateau point. In addition to the general increase in prevalence of hypertension and heart failure, we are also having a lot of sudden deaths in our country.”

“Seven years ago, we had a grant to look at the number of Nigerians who are hypertensive. We moved around the six geopolitical zones, and we measured their blood pressure, both at home and in the clinics. We found out that almost four out of every ten adult Nigerians are hypertensive, and this is alarming.”