Under the patronage of Lieutenant General Dr. Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Health (SCH), Chairman of Bahrain Diabetes Society (BDS) inaugurated hypertension detection campaign.

Dr. Shaikh Mohammed highlighted that 10 million deaths yearly are caused by high blood pressure and that by detecting the illness earlier the death percentage will decrease.

He said that the BDS's community programmes focus on public health, and diabetes in particular.

He explained that studies have shown that hypertension is associated with diabetes in many cases, which could lead to cardiac, renal and other complications.

Dr. Jalila bint Al-Sayed Jawad Hassan, Minister of Health, stressed that high blood pressure is a serious health condition that greatly increases the risk of heart, brain and kidney diseases, and is one of the main causes of premature death in the world.

She noted that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated globally that about 1.28 billion adults in the age group 30-79 years suffer from high blood pressure, and about 46% of adults with high blood pressure do not know that they have it, and less than half of adults with high blood pressure have been diagnosed with it and treated.

Source: Bahrain News Agency