KNOW YOUR NUMBERS CAMPAIGN

Vision: To help increase awareness of hypertension in Nigeria

KYN campaign is the Nigeria Cardiac Society brand created to improve the awareness of hypertension and related complications in Nigeria. The burden of hypertension as the commonest cause of non–communicable disease in Nigeria is high and impacts negatively on our health and socioeconomic status.

One of the objectives of the Nigerian Cardiac Society is to carry out public health intervention programs aimed at ensuring that all individuals particularly Nigerians live with healthy hearts.

In 2017, with funding from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), our team published the findings from a nationwide survey on the state of hypertension in Nigeria. We discovered that about four out of every ten adult Nigerians were hypertensive. Among ten hypertensive patients, only six were aware of their status, three were receiving treatment and only one had a controlled blood pressure. As disturbing as these figures may be, they revealed huge opportunities for public health intervention as control of blood pressure in those suffering it reduces the risk of stroke and heart attack by 40% and heart failure by 25%.  Awareness of hypertension status of an individual is the starting point of achieving control and by implication avoidance of the deadly complications associated with this silent killer.  While the process of diagnosing hypertension remains one of the simplest medical procedures, many sufferers of hypertension are not detected because the disease is largely symptomless and only manifests through its numerous complications as indicated above. 

To address this challenge, the KYN Campaign was designed with a view to bringing the process of diagnosis of hypertension closer to the populace. Lay individuals will be trained on how to measure blood pressure (BP) and cubicles will be provided at locations of high human traffic such as shopping malls, religious places, airports, open markets, government offices etc; where individuals patronizing such places can as well measure their BP.  If an individual is found to be hypertensive, s/he is referred to an appropriate health facility for management. KYN Campaign is a two-year project expected to take place at different locations across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. In this two-year period, it is expected that the project will increase the awareness rate of hypertension by 25%.  

The subject of awareness of hypertension cannot be separated from accurate measurement of blood pressureusing validated instruments. Hence, the Know Your Numbers Campaign aimed at increasing the sensitization of the populace on the importance of regular and accurate blood pressure checks.