Saving these lives is possible if such control is achieved by at least 50 percent in hypertensive patients in the country, assured the director of the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, Salvador Tamayo.

In his opinion, this problem cannot be trapped in academic interests, but must transcend the culture of the population for the sake of a better quality of life.

‘Hypertension generates few symptoms, but it should not be called a silent disease, because its consequences range from the development of disabilities to death,’ the expert considered.

Among the challenges that the treatment of non-communicable diseases face today is ‘changing with change,’ Tamayo stressed in a panel of the Pan American Health Organization in the context of the 4th International Health Convention now taking place in the capital’s Palace of Conventions.

There has to be patient-centered care, better questioning and efficient counseling, Tamayo said.

A participatory approach must be maintained and good learning guarantees a better transmission of knowledge, said the specialist, who is committed to strengthening primary care.

He insisted on the importance of prevention and especially in the first thousand days of life.

All the scaffolding of a health system must necessarily include a mental health model, since depression affects the entire world today, and Cuba does not escape statistics in this section, Tamayo warned.

Without losing sight of suicide, we must also vigorously confront evils such as alcoholism, smoking and accidents, the specialist says. He warned about the seriousness that the problem of aging population in Cuba acquires every day, since the elderly are the most affected by non-communicable diseases.

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