By Doris Obinna
Over time, there have been reports of sudden deaths and people collapsing in their offices, homes, vehicles and even on the street. In most cases, such people manifest no sign of ill health or show little or no care for their health and general wellbeing while dispensing their duties.
For these reasons, Wednesday, September 28, was set aside for a health talk in The Sun newsroom in Ikeja, Lagos. It was organised by the management of The Sun Publishing Limited, in collaboration with its Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) chapel, for staff.
Speaking on the topic “Prevention of stroke and essential routine health checks in adults,” associate professor of internal medicine and consultant neurologist, Dr. Bertha Chioma Ekeh, at Ikeja City Office, described stroke as a public health emergency, warning that, every six seconds, someone somewhere dies from stroke and one in every four persons is likely to have stroke in their lifetime.
Ekeh, who also touched other areas, including breast and prostate cancer, said it was pertinent at this point because of the many cases across the country. She advised journalists to pay attention to their general wellbeing.
Members of the management and staff from other departments who were present were excited to have one or two things to take home from the health talk.
The neurologist, who gave a staggering figure of six million deaths being recorded every year from stroke, disclosed that there was high burden of stroke in sub-Saharan Africa.
She decried the high rate of deaths across board as a result of these health conditions and blamed it on negligence and late detection, which leaves patients with little or no chances of scaling through.
While urging everyone to try and avoid these sicknesses and stay medically fit, she said: “Stroke has high mortality rate as well as large burden of disability. So, it is imperative for all to take responsibility for their personal health.”
Ekeh, who works at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Akwa Ibom State, said people from different regions attribute strokes to one spiritual attack to the other. She added that, in some local languages, such as Igbo, it is called Mba Agbara (a hug from the spirit); in Ibibio, Ekpo mia (a slap from the spirit); Yoruba, Ofa (an evil arrow) and Hausa, Shanna Inna (sudden paralysis).
She, however, said the medical name for stroke is cerebrovascular disease and it is as real as every other disease in the world.
According to her, crude prevalence rate of stroke in urban Nigeria is 1.14/1,000. Explaining that there are two types of the disease, she said: “Haemorrhagic is rupture of the blood vessels and leakage of blood, while isschaemic is blockage of blood vessels, lack of blood flow to affected areas and is seen in 80 to 85 per cent of cases.
“Every Nigerian knows or is related to someone who has had a stroke before. However, the stroke, either someone goes to bed and couldn’t stand up or someone is having a wedding and suddenly slumps and one side of the body is paralysed, all are dramatic symptoms of stroke.”
According to her, all over the world, there are people who are suffering and have suffered stroke. Citing a few examples, she said: “Some of the world’s great men, such as former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, American politician, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and a Soviet political leader, Joseph Stalin, all had something in common: they all suffered stroke before their death.”
While admonishing for regular checks such as blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, to avoid complications that often result in stroke, she reiterated that the best stroke is the stroke one never had.
Proffering the way forward, she said: “Best stroke is the stroke you never had. However, quality of healthy food, which involves the African method of preparation, includes boiling, steaming, roasting and grilling without oil. Our African healthy diets are still the best; so it is high time we went back to our natural way of food preparation. Also, consumption of fresh food, unprocessed, reduced or minimally processed foods, plant oils, fruits and vegetables, as well as drinking a lot of water.
“Eat salt considerably. Example, when you’re to prepare either rice or yam separately with stew for the rice or a sauce for the yam, it is better and advisable to boil your rice or the yam plain without adding salt to it since you already added seasoning, salt and all the other condiments to prepare either the stew or sauce.”
She also advised on reduction of alcohol consumption as well as regular exercise. “Walking does not mean poverty. Exercise such as parking at a distance away from your location would enable you do some walking, use of the staircase by walking up and down the stairs as well as seeing off visitors.”
At the end of the talk, it was question time. Questions on the efficacy of herbal medicine were addressed by the neurologist. She disclosed that herbal medicines have their challenges and that is the reason some professionals do not subscribe to them. According to her, there are no specified dosages when taking herbal medicines.
“When you take a particular herb from the root to prepare, after preparation, some other persons may want to add salt, another can decide to take it without adding anything. So, I think the first question should be, what is the defined dosage for that same herb? This should be of concern as against the orthodox medicine that gives us information.”
Ekeh was asked how true it was that celibacy could cause prostate cancer and how often men should engage in sex. She said that there was this myth that regular sex could prevent prostate cancer. She, however, recommended safe sex and surgery as the only way out peradventure one is suffering from it.
She said: “Anything cancer is a dangerous disease and must be avoided at all cost. For the men, it is needed to form a habit of going for regular checks at least two times in a year, say, every six or four months.”
She also advised that women should go for regular screening for breast cancer. She said: “Women in their 20s and 30s should have a clinical breast exam (CBE). This should be part of a periodic/regular health exam by a health professional, preferably every three years. Starting at age 40, women should have a CBE by a health professional every year. Women aged 40 and older should have a mammogram every year.”
Earlier, the managing director of The Sun Publishing, Onuoha Ukeh, who was represented by the editor, Daily Sun, Iheanacho Nwosu, while welcoming the health practitioner, urged journalists to take seriously the advice from the expert.
He said journalists put in so much commitment in carrying out their functions that, oftentimes, they forget to take care of their health.
“Anything that concerns us, we do not pay attention to it. The life expectancy in Nigeria every day is going lower and lower. Every day, people are paying to take medical instruction. So, we are here to learn. The health talk here is to guide us and we should all pay attention and learn one or two things from it,” he said.
In her remarks, human resource manager, Jessica Humphery, noted that the health talk was expedient as there were a lot of cases of stroke in the country and it was the reason the management partnered with its NUJ chapel to put the health talk together.
She advised everyone to make good use of the opportunity as it is important at this time to learn how to take care of one’s health.