MZANSI has been urged to seek immediate medical attention when they notice stroke-related symptoms.
These include sudden weakness on the face, arms or legs, mostly on one side of the body.
They observed World Stroke Day on Sunday, 29 October, raising awareness of the disease, which continuously claims lives.
Head of Steve Biko Academic Hospital Professor Mandisa Kakaza said that people need to be aware of strokes, how they present, how they can be treated and how they can be prevented.
According to Dr Kakaza, these symptoms include dripping of the face, weakness of the arm, inability to talk, confusion, difficulty speaking or understanding speech, difficulty seeing with one or both eyes, difficulty walking, dizziness and/or loss of balance.
She said the raising of awareness is meant to help people recognise the symptoms, present early to health facilities and know how to avoid suffering a stroke.
“It's very important that we educate the public about the symptoms of strokes so that they can present early to their nearest health facilities for diagnosis and early treatment. This can improve the stroke outcome,” she said.
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“The main thing that is always worrying about stroke patients is that when they start noticing the neurological deficit, they always think that it's going to get better on its own. Some, particularly among black Africans, would believe that they have been bewitched. This must stop. People need to present at their local hospitals for treatment,” Dr Kakaza said.
Chances of getting a stroke increase with age, and people who have high blood pressure (hypertension) and diabetes stand a higher risk of getting the disease.
“Most young patients who present with stroke at health facilities have auto-immune diseases where the body attacks itself, or they might be having heart diseases which form clots which block vessels on the brain,” she added.
The effects of behavioural risk factors of strokes may show up in individuals as raised blood pressure, raised blood glucose, raised blood lipids, being overweight and obesity.
These risk factors include an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol, and it's important for people with chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure or diabetes and high cholesterol to take treatment regularly to reduce the risk and prevent strokes.
