Some recent advances in non-communicable diseases in the Tropics. 1. Hypertension: an emerging problem in tropical countries.

With increasing urbanization, hypertension and its complications are becoming major health problems in many tropical countries. In particular, hypertension is a major cause of illness in black Africans. There is good evidence that an increasing dietary salt intake is partly responsible for this rising incidence of hypertension and possibly restriction of salt may help in prevention. The public health requirements for the prevention, detection and management of hypertension are likely to consume scarce resources in countries where life expectancy is gradually rising due to improved control of communicable disease and malnutrition. Failure to address the problem of hypertension could have serious effects on morbidity and mortality of economically active individuals in developing countries.