From Blessing Douglas, Port Harcourt
Olympus Marino Deck of the Association of Seadogs (NAS), Pyrates Confraternity, has sensitised residents of Rivers State on the need to take care for their health, despite their schedules.
The humanitarian group sensitised the residents during a programme target ‘Street Pulse Series’, held in Port Harcourt.
One of the panelists at the programme, Prof. MacClean Akpan, who spoke on how to manage crisis of high blood pressure, described HBP as a condition rather than an illness, explaining that the condition is associated with age.
Dr. Akpan, a Consultant Physician and Cardiologist at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), listed other risk factors such as; “diet, lifestyle, obesity, smoking, stress, alcoholic consumption”, adding that the risk factors can be regulated.
In his lecture on diabetes mellitus, Dr. Ibitrokoemi Korubo said is the increase of sugar content in the body due to insulin impairment.
He enumerated the risk factors as frequent urination, frequent tasty, frequent hunger, kidney failure, frequent vaginal discharge in female, others.
Dr Korubo advised that the strategies to halting diabetes mellitus is by getting involved in the various activities such as; “frequent screening, medical nutrition therapy (not eating carbohydrates at night and morning), avoid injury on the leg, exercise, information, surveillance, maintaining body weight and drugs”.
Dr Chinweowa Ohaka a consultant gynaecologist who spoke on the burden of prostate gland enlargement, noted the increasing cases of the disease.
He divided the enlargement into Cancerous (stage I, II, III and IV) and Non Cancerous, and highlighted the risk factors as associated to age (≥50), obesity, lifestyle (abstinence from sex for a long period).
Another panelist, a University Don Prof. Dasetima Altraide in his lecture, guided against cosmetic bleaching of the melanin (skin color) with hydroquinone, said it induces high blood pressure.
