Omron healthcare and New Height Pharmaceutical Nigeria join the world to celebrate this year’s world hypertension and asthma respectively with a one day extensive training on modern management of hypertension and asthma in local communities.
The Omron Academy one day training which was in partnership with the Lagos State Association of Community Pharmacists had in attendance pharmacists and medical practitioners across the country with renowned
pharmacists, doctors and entrepreneur as faculty members. Pharmacists and members of the public present at the event were also trained extensively on hypertension and asthma management in the modern way.
The programme according to the Country Manager, Omron Healthcare Nigeria and Ghana, Mr Olugbenga Abiodun is an initiative that is in line with Omron’s mission as a market leader in the field of hypertension and respiratory. In accordance with the company’s social responsibility, the programme according to him is a form of investment into medical education to help healthcare professionals to improve their knowledge and skills in the treatment of hypertension as well as respiratory diseases, such as Asthma, Pneumonia, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) amongst others.
Speaking with the media, Olugbenga said, ‘’ Omron Academy was developed together with the British Hypertension Society (BHS) and Nigeria’s Asthma and Chest Care Foundation (ACCF). The curriculum is purely scientific and evidence-based. The Omron Academy- Hypertension covers the local and BHS guidelines on treatment and also for specific patient populations like diabetics, metabolic syndrome, pregnancy, kidney disease and home BP monitoring. The Respiratory course includes modules in Asthma and Allergic rhinitis, Guidelines: Pathomechanisms to treatment, Child Asthma, COPD, Asthma COPD Overlap Syndrome (ACOS), Common respiratory infections as well as a workshop on nebulizers’’.
Dr Jabocb Nwachukwu one of the faculty members and stress management consultant who spoke on ‘’the optimal way to diagnose and manage hypertension said Omron blood pressure monitoring has provided the modern, easy and affordable way of measuring our blood. He emphasised that because the mercury measurement is odourless it is more harmful to our health and as such it has become obsolete. The world he said has transit from the old measurement to the digital measurement which he calls ‘’out of the office measurement’’ and this method affords every individual the opportunity to monitor their blood pressure.
Dr Folashade Lawal while speaking on drug therapy and resistant hypertension reiterate Dr Nwachukwu on the importance of ‘’out of the office measurement’’ and as well challenge pharmacists to meticulously monitor their patients to know what exactly they are doing. She emphasised that hypertension drugs should not be sold indiscriminately.
Speaking on asthma in children, the founder of Asthma and chest care foundation, Professor Gregory Erhabor said many children with asthma develop symptoms before age 5. There are a number of conditions that can cause asthma-like symptoms in young children. But if the child’s symptoms are caused by asthma, early diagnosis is important. Asthma treatment in children improves day-to-day breathing, reduces asthma flare-ups and helps reduce other problems caused by asthma.
He further explained that asthma in children varies by age group. Infants, toddlers and 4-year-olds are diagnosed and treated differently than teens and adults are. Asthma in children also varies from child to child, and symptoms may get better or worse at certain times. Asthma symptoms can be kept at a minimum by using a written asthma action plan you develop with your child’s doctor to track symptoms and adjust treatment. (LIB)