More women developing heart diseases
Ms Selasi Doku, Country Director of Go Red For Women, has said that a lot of women are getting heart diseases and the symptoms are not easily identifiable so they are misdiagnosed and under-diagnosed.
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Go Red For Women, an international organisation that creates awareness about cardiovascular disease in women focusing on prevention, diagnosis and control, is here to create more awareness before the situation gets out of hand,” she pointed out.
She explained that a study conducted by the American Heart Foundation (AHF) revealed that in 2012, 56 per cent of women identified heart disease as the leading cause of death compared with 30 per cent in 1997.
In 1997, women were more likely to cite cancer than heart disease as the leading killer (35 per cent versus 30 per cent); but in 2012, only 24 per cent cited cancer.
In 2012, 36 per cent of black women and 34 per cent of Hispanic women identified heart disease as the top killer — awareness levels that white women had in 1997 (33 per cent).Women 25-34 years old had the lowest awareness rate of any age group at 44 per cent.
“We (Go Red For Women Ghana) are partnering with World Heart Federation under the wings of Ghana Society for Hypertension and Cardiology to take this message throughout the whole country informing and educating women health consciousness so we can live longer lives and see the lives of our families get better.”
Ms Doku outlined a list of activities they would be undertaking to create the needed awareness.
“First and foremost, we are bringing the ‘Know Your Number’ road show nationwide. It is basically telling the women to ask what the BP reading, PH level numbers mean. We want the women to understand these numbers.
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“Also we will be informing them on symptoms and warning signs of cardiovascular disease so they can take better care of themselves and their families. We hope to work with a telecoms company to create a short code where women can send a text and get tips on cardiovascular health tips.
Dr Francis Kwamin, President of the Ghana Society for Hypertension and Cardiology, said the launch of this organisation was part of the process of trying to bring cardiovascular diseases under control because it was the number one killer in the world especially in the developing countries in both men and women.
The Mirror / Ghana