The President, Nigerian Stroke Organisation (NSO), Prof. Yomi Ogun, has described stroke as the commonest cause of disability and the second largest cause of preventable deaths globally.
Ogun made the assertion at a campaign in Lagos to raise awareness on the prevention of stroke in commemoration of the 2017 World Stroke Day.
The theme for the 2017 World Stroke Day is: “What is Your Reason for Preventing Strokes?”
“World Stroke Day marks every October 29 provides an annual opportunity for stroke stakeholders to coordinate awareness and advocacy campaigns and build commitment to reducing the burden of stroke at global, regional and local level.
“By creating a global platform from which we can speak out, World Stroke Day amplifies our individual voices and brings more people into the conversation about stroke prevention, treatment and support,” an online publication, worldstrokecampaign said.
Ogun said: “NSO today joined the global calls for urgent action to prevent stroke and respond to new data, which indicates stroke as being responsible for years of life lived with disability worldwide in 2016.
“Stroke happens when the blood supply to parts of the brain is cut off, without the blood, brain cell can be damaged or die, affecting a person’s body, mobility, speech and how they think or feel.
“There are estimated 17 million stroke cases worldwide each year and at least, 200, 000 of which occur in Nigeria.
“In Nigeria today, stroke is the most medical emergency in all teaching hospitals, while other hospitals account for up to eight to 10 neurological hospital admission.”
According to Ogun, the theme for 2017 focuses attention on creating awareness on the risk factors and preventive measures by all stroke stakeholders.
“Stroke can affect anyone, can occur anywhere and at any time; it calls for urgent mass health education on strategies to prevent first and recurrent strokes.
“We know that 90 per cent of strokes are associated with risk factors that we can all do something about.
“They include the control of high blood pressure, doing moderate exercise, stop smoking and reduce alcohol intake and also maintaining healthy diet, amongst others.
“Addressing the risk factors will not just have major impact on stroke prevention, but will also prevent deaths from other non-communicable diseases,” Ogun said.
The president of the organisation said that giving urgent priority to prevention would yield obvious benefits in terms of reduced human, social and economic cost.
