Publications by authors named "A Hydara"
Blood pressure and the hypertension care cascade in The Gambia: Findings from a nationwide survey.
J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich)
May 2024
Article Synopsis
- Community treatment of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa faces challenges due to significant gaps in the care continuum, affecting diagnosis and treatment.
- A survey conducted on adults 35 and older revealed that over half of the participants were normotensive, while those with hypertension showed significantly higher blood pressure levels, particularly among untreated individuals.
- The study found that blood pressure levels were generally elevated across all hypertension categories, and highlighted the need for comprehensive strategies to address hypertension at various stages of care.
Article Synopsis
- The study examined the prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and multimorbidity in older adults in The Gambia, revealing that as countries evolve, these conditions become more common than infectious diseases.
- Data was gathered from a nationally representative survey involving nearly 9,200 participants aged 35 and older, assessing factors such as blood pressure, blood glucose levels, and sociodemographic information.
- The findings showed that 47% of participants had hypertension, with higher rates in older adults; diabetes prevalence was 6.3%, particularly affecting urban women and increasing with age until a decline in the oldest groups.
Background: Hypertension is a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa with poor treatment coverage and high case-fatality rates. This requires assessment of healthcare performance to identify areas where intervention is most needed. To identify areas where health resources should be most efficiently targeted, we assessed the hypertension care cascade i.
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- Trichiasis occurs when eyelashes grow inward and touch the eyeball, potentially leading to permanent vision loss, caused mainly by repeated infections from Chlamydia trachomatis.
- A study in The Gambia assessed the prevalence of trachomatous trichiasis (TT) through surveys in five evaluation units, using a two-stage cluster sampling method involving nearly 12,000 individuals aged 15 and older.
- The results showed a very low prevalence of TT, with some regions reporting 0.0%, leading to The Gambia being validated in 2021 for achieving the elimination of trachoma as a public health issue, demonstrating the effectiveness of dedicated resources and political commitment in addressing the problem.
Objective: Monitoring health outcomes disaggregated by socioeconomic position (SEP) is crucial to ensure no one is left behind in efforts to achieve universal health coverage. In eye health planning, rapid population surveys are most commonly implemented; these need an SEP measure that is feasible to collect within the constraints of a streamlined examination protocol. We aimed to assess whether each of four SEP measures identified inequality-an underserved group or socioeconomic gradient-in key eye health outcomes.
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