Check your blood pressure, your life may depend on it, Aisha Buhari advises pregnant women

Wife of Nigeria’s President, Mrs Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, has stressed the need for women to have their blood pressure (BP) checked during pregnancy as hypertensive disorders are common and are a leading cause of death during this period.

She said the best way for pregnant women to avoid this is to constantly check their blood pressure during ante-natal care.

This was made known in a statement by media aide to the wife of the President, Mr. Suleiman Haruna, which he issued in Abuja on Wednesday.

According to Haruna, Mrs Buhari made the charge during the health screening exercise organized by Future Assured Programme at King Fahd Women and Children Hospital in Gusau, Zamfara state on Wednesday.

Buhari, who was represented at the event by North East Zonal Coordinator of FAP, Hajiya Zuwaira Gambo, said, “Some pregnant women with high blood pressure tend to have eclampsia which can result in death; this may be because they do not know that their blood pressure is high.”

She added that, “The first time they know about their BP status is when they have convulsion during pregnancy. At that point, it may be too late. There is therefore the need for women to be conscious of this and be proactive in matters of their health.”

She urged stakeholders to do more because, according to her, “Maternal mortality rate is high in Nigeria, therefore we need all hands on deck to ensure that this situation is reversed”.

Wife of the Governor of Zamfara State, Hajiya Asmaú Abdulazeez Yari in her welcome address, reiterated the need for women to attend ante-natal care clinics during pregnancy to avoid complications arising from high blood pressure and other diseases.

She said the call by Mrs Buhari was in line with the focus of the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) Week, which was still being observed in the state through vitamin A supplementation, immunization, deworming and malaria diagnosis.

She thanked Mrs. Buhari for conducting the exercise in Zamfara state, thereby creating more awareness on the need for health consciousness among women.

At the exercise, over 2000 women were screened, tested, diagnosed and given drugs for Blood Pressure, Diabetes and Malaria, while 3000 children were dewormed in 5 primary schools including Ibrahim Gusau and Tudun Wada Primary schools.