The World Heart Day will be marked on Sunday.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 28 – The cost of treatment for Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) remains a burden to most Kenyans, due to lack of proper investments in the country’s public health facilities to treat and manage the ailments.
Eline Maswai knows too well the struggles she has had to endure in search of treatment for her seven-year-old son Nathaniel Mburu who was born with a complex congenital heart condition.
Nathaniel is as active like any boy his age; playing and just being cheeky, oblivious of the health condition he has.
The fact is that Nathaniel has endured numerous surgeries, six in total, ranging from open-heart surgeries to catheter procedures all of which have drained the family’s resources.
“Nathaniel’s condition was discovered when he was aged six months, and nothing could have prepared us for this news. He is the only son I have,” her mother says, “The first thing most parents want to know about their unborn baby is whether the baby is healthy. From the moment parents hear the words, “Your child’s has a heart defect, they are thrust into a world they were not expecting.”
Eline narrated how she fell into depression following the diagnosis of her son’s condition and embarked on a search for specialized treatment in India.
“Survival rates for children with complex congenital heart defects are lower; they often need specialized medical care throughout their lifetime. For Nathaniel, he needs a heart and lung transplant, a procedure that cannot be performed in Kenya,” she says.
In the quest to the keep her son alive and others with a similar or related condition, Eline has urged the government to look into reducing the cost of treatment on Cardio Vascular Diseases which falls in the category of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD’s) as well as facilitate training of doctors and nurses to counter the effects of congenital heart diseases and other related heart conditions.
“Just to quote, there is this specific mediation that he takes three times a day; a tablet sells for Sh700, which totals to Sh2100 daily. This isn’t affordable. What of the children born in marginalized areas?,” she said.
Evans Nyambega shares Eline’s sentiments as a stroke survivor for nine years now.
“I got a stroke in 2010 which left me paralyzed on my right arm. Thinking back, later on, I had been ignoring the symptoms which were prevalent for a while,” he said.
“The day I got the stroke, I was disoriented, my vision affected. This happened in a remote area where I was born, brought up and lived, nobody seemed to know what the problem was. After moving from one hospital to the other, eight days had gone by and finally came to the Kenyatta National hospital (KNH),” he recalls.
By this time the effects of the delay in treatment were visible on Nyambega, as one needs to get medical assistance within three hours of getting a stroke to avert the effects like paralysis.
“I would urge government to reduce the cost of medication as well as consider making the walking aids for the disabled nontaxable, training of doctors and nurses to improve caregiving,” he said.
The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) partially covers some of the procedures related to the treatment of CVDs.
Eline and Nyambega’s are few case studies in the country showing the strains families go through in management and treatment of CVDs.
As Kenya joins the rest of the world in the World Heart Day Campaign on Sunday, scaling up prevention of Cardiovascular diseases and the cost of the treatment remains paramount.
According to statistics from the World Health organization, every year, 17.9 million people die from CVDs representing 31 percent of deaths worldwide.
In Kenya, 13 percent of deaths are related to CVDs and account for 25 percent of hospital admissions according to the National Stepwise Survey 2015.
High blood pressure is a major risk factor for CVDs.
Approximately 24 percent of Kenyans have high blood pressure, yet 56 percent have never been screened. Other risk factors include physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, excessive alcohol consumption and tobacco use.
“We have joined the world to continue driving awareness of cardiovascular diseases in Kenya which have become a burden on the economy and the society at large. Eight percent of Kenyans aged between 40-69 years are at a high risk of CVDs with only 6.2 percent of them currently receiving drug therapy and counseling to prevent heart attacks and stroke,” said Ephantus Maree, the Head of NCD prevention and control department, Ministry of Health.
He said the ministry is keen to halt and reverse the trend of CVDs, a non-communicable disease by addressing the risk factors and educating the public on adopting healthy lifestyles.
The national guidelines for the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases contain up-to-date, innovative and evidence-based approaches towards bridging the gaps in prevention and control of the disease.
Maree stated that a few changes can reduce the risks of CVDs which include giving up on tobacco smoking, physical exercises, promote and create use of healthy diets within the community and stop harmful use of alcohol.
President of the Kenya Cardiac Society Bernard Gitura also emphasized on the need to tackle the growing problem at hand, saying “One of the major challenges we face is the low level of awareness of the causes and the impact of cardiovascular diseases among the general population. There is need for sustained awareness creation on CVD prevention, early detection and management across the country.”
The guidelines which were launched in May last year, offer guidance in prevention and screening, as well as standardizing the treatment of cardiovascular diseases across the country.
This will, therefore, ensure improved quality of care for persons living with cardiovascular diseases hence better health outcomes and achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Country Group Head, English East Africa at Novartis Arpit Bansal, said that the company has partnered with various health stakeholders in Kenya to increase learning, upscaling on diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases by doctors and nurses as well as community health workers.
Among the various activities set aside to mark this year’s World Heart Day includes health checks such screening for Blood pressure, Body Mass Index (BMI), and blood sugars to identify those at risk.
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