Anthropometric and Lifestyle as Correlates

Discuss about the Anthropometric and Lifestyle as Correlates.

Introduction

As time goes on, various diseases that were little known about in the past have become common, due to various aspects such as changes in lifestyles, diet, and climate, among others. According to Kulik (2014), some of the issues related to blood circulations may have far-reaching health implications, and therefore, proper intervention measures should be considered. This paper will discuss various issues concerning hypertension and will suggest a program which can be used to confront the disease.

Hypertension, which is also known as high blood pressure is a popular condition which is caused by the force exerted by blood to the walls of the blood vessels. According to medical practitioners, one is termed to have this condition if his/her blood pressure (BP) is higher than 130 over 80 millimeters of mercury (mmHg). According to Perez (2011), this condition is a global health concern because it kills a large number of people, and may go unnoticed for some years. The world health organization has implied that one of the major causes of this disease is an increase in consumption of processed foods.

One of the primary reasons that made this condition to be ideal for this paper is that it possess a danger to large populations and can go unnoticed for some years LJKM. Research has indicated that even without the symptoms, the condition continues to damage one’s heart and blood vessels. These organs being critical for human survival, it means their damage can trigger serious health implications which can ultimately lead to death (Motunrayo, 2013). Some of the health implications which are likely to result from this condition include heart attack and stroke.

Understanding the aspects surrounding this condition is pertinent and significant to the community because it is something which can be prevented if the people use proper preventive measures (Andrea & Kyle, 2014). However, most communities have little understanding of how they can prevent themselves from developing this condition and therefore enlightening them concerning some of the major factors that influence it is crucial.

The other reason why this condition is significant to the community is that people have little understanding concerning its causes, and also the wrong perception concerning the populations which are at higher risks. For instance, some people believe that it only affects the aged, and its causes mainly surround inheritance (Carslaw & Cosh, 2017). Because there are so many things which people need to understand concerning this condition, it would be important for the community to be provided with good knowledge concerning the real aspects which surrounds it.

Primary care of hypertension

According to the principles of primary health care (PHC), it is crucial for healthcare services to be made universally available and easily accessible to all people (Motunrayo, 2013). For proper primary care to be provided, all departments concerned with public health issues should first enlighten the people regarding what this condition entails and the importance of being managed.

Being one of the diseases that may affect a person for some years, it is advisable to provide better care for the patients diagnosed with this condition.  According to Wendee (2012), the primary care of hypertension should include testing the patients from time to time to identify their levels of blood pressure. The reason why this is important is that the pressure keeps fluctuating and the changes may affect the patient if medical interventions are not taken.

Although the primary care starts with screening patients from time to time to identify the signs, a confirmed diagnosis of this condition requires more than in-office screening (Carslaw & Cosh, 2017). According to the world health organization, it is advisable for the patients who portray high levels of BP to be given out-of-office BP monitoring promptly. This could be through either 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring or with home BP monitoring.

For the home-based monitoring, the medical practitioners can also teach the patients some of the strategies which they can use to identify when their blood pressure raises to dangerous levels (Miyagawa & Emoto, 2014). It is also essential to enlighten them concerning some of the intervention measures which they can use when they realize any sign of abnormal BP.

The PHC principles affirm that there should be a commitment to health equity as part of development to social justice. This means that while providing primary care for this condition, it is crucial for the care to be given for those who test positive and those who test negative in order to enhance equity (Hamid, 2014). For those who portray high blood pressure, the medical practitioners should help them to make it drop to the required levels, while for those who test to have the right pressure levels, the health providers should advise them on how to maintain the BP at that level.

Providing primary care for hypertension requires families and communities to work with the medical practitioners. According to the principles of PHC, communities should play a role in defining and implementing healthcare agendas (Safdar, 2012). Because the primary care for hypertension relies on lifestyle, measures, and medication, the communities should work with the caregivers through encouraging the people with Hypertension to go for therapies and other intervention measures. The medical practitioners should also work with the patient families in order to effectively assist them in adopting measures which can make their BP to remain at the right levels.

The primary care of hypertension should also include identifying the people who are at the risk of developing high blood pressure (Miyagawa & Emoto, 2014). This could be done through asking those who test negative concerning their family history, the kind of lifestyle, including the type of diet they take, the kind of exercise they do and so forth.

Because hypertension is termed as one of the most important modifiable risk factors which trigger the development of cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and heart attacks, it is fundamental to implement a program that will aid in reducing the number of deaths that result from this condition.

To address the implications of this condition, it is important to implement a program known as ‘Hypertension control program’ which will focus on free BP test for every patient who visit health centers for any medical attention, and also on enlightening the community concerning what is hypertension, its causes, and the intervention measures which they can use to address the issue (Kanaskar, 2016). The program will also focus on working with families and communities to conduct campaigns that will seek to inform people that hypertension is risky to human health and therefore it is important to know one’s BP from time to time.

One of the reasons that will make hypertension control program to address this issue is that it will help people to have sufficient knowledge concerning the causes. According to Shulka (2016), hypertension is more prevalent in the recent times because people have little knowledge concerning its major causes. Through understanding the causes, they will be able to avoid anything that may put them to the risks of developing the condition, hence reducing the number of people who die as a result of this disease. The program will also play a key role in helping the community to understand the types of foods that they should consume, the importance of doing excises and other factors that can assist them to reduce the chances of developing the condition.

Additionally, the program will play a significant role in helping in assisting those who have high levels of blood pressure to understand some of the measures which they can use to ensure they manage the condition. With this program, it will be possible for the patients to access regular free tests to determine when their BP is high in order to be given the required medical interventions at the right time.

Kenechukwu   (2014) affirms that the reason why this disease is dangerous is that it may remain unnoticed for long, and hence trigger other health issues because of not being addressed at the right time. With regular testing, it will be possible for the medical practitioners to identify those who have this condition and advise them on the best medical interventions which they can use.

To realize positive results from this program, the first phase will be developing proper planning concerning the purpose and the target group. Rafia & Afifa (2015) affirms that a good program is the one that targets a specified group of people. In this case, the primary purpose of this program will be to reduce the cases of hypertension in the society. Because the disease can affect any person regardless of age or gender, the target group will be any person who seeks to understand more concerning this condition.

The next thing in the planning stage will be determining the resources required and also the people who will be involved in executing some of the duties that need to be accomplished to make it successful. In this case, money will be required to meet the costs incurred. Some of the costs will include paying the people who will be involved in providing the services and purchasing the required instruments such as testing gadgets, purchasing medicines, and so forth. Cash will also be required to aid in training patients concerning the kinds of diet they should take, the kind of practices they should commence and so forth.

The other key factor to consider in this program is the duration it will take. According to Brenda (2011), a good health-related program should be long enough to allow the most desirable results to be attained. Because Hypertension is something that requires enough time for the people to understand how they can manage it, the program will take five years but will be subject to extension depending on resources and the nature of results that will have been attained.

After planning, the next step will be implementation. At this level, the key things to consider will be determining the techniques that will be used to initiate the program in a manner which will deliver the best outcome. For this reason, it will be implemented in phases in order to ensure every important aspect is kept into consideration.

The implementation process will include identifying the areas that require the more attention, like for instance, those that have the highest number of people who are prone to hypertension, or those that have high numbers of people with this condition. This will aid in ensuring people do not die or develop this condition while concentrating on other areas which have minimal risks.

The implementation process will also entail training medical practitioners and other people who will play a role in undertaking various the activities. This tactic will aid in ensuring they understand its importance and the roles they should play.

After implementation, the last stage will be an evaluation. According to Wi-Young & Dai-Hyuk (2010), evaluation plays a significant role in programs because it helps in determining if they are working according to expectations or not. Evaluations also aid in identifying the key areas that need to be rectified to avoid missing the target. To undertake this process, various techniques will be used and shall be performed by experts to ensure the best results are attained.

Some of the evaluation methods that will be employed, in this case, will be EX ante evaluation, intermediate evaluation, and EX post evaluation. For the EX ante evaluation, it will be possible to identify the coherence and the significance of the program, and also the realism of the desired outcome. For the intermediate evaluation, the main focus will be on the first results which will be attained through the program. And finally, for the Ex post evaluation, the primary focus will be to identify and report the significant effects of the program.

Other techniques that will be used in this project will entail the use of KPI (key performance indicator). According to Jacques & Joliana (2013), this technique plays a crucial role in enabling program implementers to determine if a program attains the key objectives or not. Through the use of this tactic, it will be possible to determine if the program is assisting to reduce the cases of hypertension conditions in the society. If the KPI indicates that the program does not deliver the anticipated results, it will be possible to identify things that need to be rectified.

References

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