Hypertension is one of the biggest causes of death in our country.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - At least 34.1 percent or more than 70 million Indonesians are suffering from hypertension based on a national survey conducted in 2018, the Ministry of Health has said.

“Hypertension is one of the biggest causes of death in our country. The Minister of Health previously said that for every 3 people there is 1 person with hypertension," Head of the Heart and Blood Vessel Disease Work Team of the Ministry Fatcha Nuraliyah said at a web seminar on "Prevent and Control Hypertension for a Longer Healthy Life," which was accessed online from Jakarta on Tuesday.

Based on the 2018 Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) data, 36.80 percent of people with hypertension are women, she highlighted. Meanwhile, 31.3 percent of men suffer from hypertension.

When broken down by the level of education, 51.55 percent of people with hypertension do not or have never attended school. Then, 46.25 percent did not finish elementary school, 39.99 percent finished elementary school, 29.07 percent finished junior high/MTs, 25.92 percent finished high school/MA, and the other 28.30 percent graduated DI/D2/D3/PT.

Based on age, the number of people with hypertension is dominated by people aged 75 years and over at 69.50 percent. However, the 25–34 age group needs to be considered because hypertension prevalence in the group has touched 20.10 percent and for the 35-44 age group, it has reached 31.60 percent.

"Hypertension in Indonesia, based on the 2018 Riskesdas, can be analogous to every 10 people there are 3 people who have hypertension. Of the 3 sufferers, there is only 1 person who is taking regular medication, so regular treatment has not yet reduced his blood pressure to normal," she said.

Nuraliyah added that it is regrettable that the high number of people with hypertension is the result of following an unhealthy daily diet, for example, consumption of sugar, salt, and fat (GGL) in excess of normal limits.

Even though people have busy activities, many do not exercise or perform light exercises, such as jogging or walking.

Therefore, as stated in the Minister of Health Regulation (Permenkes) Number 30 of 2013 concerning the inclusion of information on sugar, salt, and fat content and health messages on processed foods and ready-to-eat foods, Nuraliyah advised the public to start getting used to limiting sugar consumption to only four tablespoons per person per day.

The recommended salt intake is one teaspoon per person per day and fat intake is five tablespoons per person per day.

She also suggested getting at least 15 to 20 minutes of regular and light exercise per day as a form of preventive measure against non-communicable diseases caused by hypertension or other diseases.

"Don't forget that with regular treatment, we maintain blood pressure that can be accommodated by sufferers, then the trend in the prevalence of hypertension," Nuraliyah said.

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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma Shanti, Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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