Cameroon
When it comes to noncommunicable diseases in Cameroon, stroke and ischemic heart disease are the top killers and rank sixth and seventh causes of death, respectively. (Cameroon, n.d.)
Defo et al. (2019) include Cameroon in the 74% of African countries that have no guidelines for the management of hypertension.
Data
According to Simo et al. (2020), the crude prevalence of hypertension in rural Cameroon is 40.9% irrespective of gender and increasing among the older population. As a matter of fact, two out of five people in their study was found to be hypertensive. It is important to note that this study defined hypertension as having a Systolic BP of greater or equal to 140mmHg, or Diastolic BP of 90mmHg or greater or any reports of use of antihypertensive medication. (This parameter doesn’t respect the most recent guidelines published by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association that classify hypertension as having SBP greater than 130mmHg or DBP greater than 80mmHg)
Reasons for Prevalence
Simo et al. (2020) found very low awareness rates and even lower treatment and BP control rates in their study and attributed these to the lack of hypertension clinics and scarcity of competent healthcare professionals.
Limiting accessibility to care is the fact that healthcare in Cameroon requires an upfront, out-of-pocket payment to be seen by a health care professional. Most patients (especially those in rural areas) cannot afford these costs, leading to poor treatment adherence, hence uncontrolled blood pressures.