World Hypertension Day 2020!
Tension! Tension! Tension! Does it really mean you are extremely tensed or not? Well, Hyper or not, it is bad for your health. Most people would feel hyper tensed when something gets disturbed. This is not good for your health because when you get angry it would be associated with tension and thus it would lead to health issues. While most people get tensed and get calm the very next moment, some people would get hyper-tensed which is uncontrollable. This would be a complete disaster to health in the form of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and blindness when your body gives welcomes an unwanted guest – Hypertension or elevated blood pressure.
ORIGIN OF WORLD HYPERTENSION DAY: The origin of World Hypertension Day is initiated by The World Hypertension League (WHL) which then leads to having organizations of 85 national hypertension societies and leagues. The day was actually observed to increase the awareness of hypertension in the society as it is need of the hour too. Why it is highly essential to know about the importance of the day? This is because of the absence of appropriate knowledge among hypertensive patients. This is the reason why WHL its first World Hypertension Day on May 14, 2005. Later, WHL determined to dedicate May 17th of every year as World Hypertension Day.
THEMES FOR WORLD HYPERTENSION DAY: WHD is announced with fixed themes which in turn would be helpful in understanding the importance of the day and the real reason for initiating this day internationally. The first-ever theme for the day was “Awareness of High Blood Pressure” in 2005 and “Treat to goal” in 2006 with a target to keep blood pressure under control which is an essential thing. And the theme for the day was “Know Your Numbers” for almost five years (2013 – 2018) as a goal to create awareness about high blood pressure globally. Through this WHL would not only create awareness on hypertension but also highlights the factors which contribute to an increase in the incidence of hypertension and the ways to avert it. The theme for 2019 was also the expanded theme “Know Your Number” and it is the same for this year as well. Awareness is indispensable because hypertension is considered to be a “silent killer” itself. However, The WHL has pronounced that they postponed the celebration of the day until October 2020 due to the burst of pandemic disease.
In 2016, several countries announced free health screening to educate people about hypertension to celebrate the day. So, you could attend these sessions and gain from it which would be a better way to celebrate the day.
