Enabling and empowering—the need for an integrated approach to address hypertension among African adults

摘要

This paper charts analytic and conceptual debates on the burden of hypertension among Africans and the interlocking role of diet and genetic factors. The discussions in this paper are about (indigenous) rather than (white) Africans. In trying to show understanding in the issues raised within this paper, the debate highlights the increasing burden of hypertension in Africans. The paper also mentions the role of adverse factors over the life course on hypertension, which is described in public health literature as a widespread burden. It also mentions that there appears to be an increasing prevalence of high blood pressure among Africans explained by widespread nutrition transitions to lipid-rich diets and a decrease in physical activity; as a result, hypertension has become a ubiquitous cause of morbidity and contributor to mortality among Africans. While these issues are acknowledged, the authors argue that it is not enough to think that persuading and encouraging poorer households to purchase ‘cheap’ and less fatty foods will address nutritional problems. It is one thing making food available and it is another putting the food basket on the table. Both conditions require negotiations of complex political, social, economic, cultural and environmental hurdles. What is needed is reorienting existing health care systems to meet these challenges while empowering and saturating African populations and households with systematic but intense health information, education and communication.