Overview
- Gauteng’s health department says the 2025–26 tally includes 26,088 new diagnoses among people aged 18 to 44, underscoring a shift toward younger patients.
- Officials report screening about 8.7 million adults across the province, with free blood pressure checks offered at public facilities to find cases before complications develop.
- The department links rising cases to stress, inactivity, obesity, high salt intake, smoking and heavy drinking, and it is scaling up community outreach and enrollment in the CCMDD program to make chronic medicines easier to collect.
- Clinicians in India and US experts describe the same trend in younger adults and recommend the DASH diet, cutting sodium to no more than 2,300 mg a day, regular aerobic and resistance exercise, stress reduction and, when needed, medication including single‑pill combinations.
- Because hypertension often has no symptoms yet drives strokes, heart disease and kidney failure, doctors urge regular checks and prompt care if readings stay at or above 140/90 mmHg.