Hypertension is also known as high blood pressure and is a killer condition especially in an environment where there are no campaigns geared towards its awareness or methods of early diagnosis. Hypertension is particularly on the rise in Sierra Lone due to socioeconomic stress, especially in areas of poverty.

Hypertension is extremely prominent in our male ward; in a typical Sierra Leonean family the man is the breadwinner and therefore in terms of medical care, when the breadwinner falls sick the family collects money to pay for treatment. Sister Jariatu, Head of the Magbenteh Community Hospital Male Ward explains that the hypertensive attacks come in three stages; headaches and fatigue followed by brain damage, paralysis and ischaemia. The third stage usually consists of more severe secondary symptoms which often lead to terminal illness.

Contributing to the socioeconomic stress, particularly in men, are day to day works and practices including heavy lifting, irregular sleeping patterns, excessive cigarette smoking and drinking, fatigue and depression.

In Sierra Leone, the only way to treat hypertension according to medical professionals is through continuous drug prescriptions. This leaves a definitive gap for counselling, sensitisation and early diagnosis. Unfortunately due to a poor literacy rate, communities often blame hypertension on witchcraft and superstition. In some cases, this encourages patients to take traditional medicine as part of their cultural beliefs.

During the aftermath, medical professionals then struggle to reverse the damage done, leaving hypertensive patients with strokes and other cardiovascular and inter-cranial conditions. Prevention of hypertension is simply done through observing lifestyle and nutrition, an easy solution for us in Europe but a difficult one in a developing country like Sierra Leone.