With uncontrolled hypertension becoming one of the main reasons for spate of cardiovascular diseases, health experts have called for prioritising blood pressure as a public health emergency.

The Government has a target to 25 per cent relative reduction in hypertension prevalence by 2025. Achieving this goal will require effectively treating at least 15 crore people by 2024, the eminent doctors said as they suggested that improvements in screening of patients with high blood pressure can help ensure that their blood pressure remains under control.

“Although easy to diagnose and relatively simple to treat with low cost medicines, high blood pressure is now a full-fledged health crisis with at least 1 in 4 adult Indians suffering from this condition. It is considered the world’s largest killer, responsible for at least 10.8 million deaths and 212 million disabilities adjusted life years (DALY). “Worldover, at least 1.4 billion people live with this chronic condition.

In India, untreated and uncontrolled blood pressure has become a leading cause for premature death and disability,” Dr AM Kadri, Executive Director, State Health System Resource Centre, Gujarat Government said at the event attended by top experts from AIIMS Jodhpur and Gorakhpur, Dept of Health and Family Welfare, Gujarat, ICMR-National Institute for Implementation Research on NCDs (NIIR-NCD), National Health System Resource Centre (NHSRC) and India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI). Dr Piyush Gupta, Cardio-Vascular Health Officer (CVHO), WHO, Jaipur, added, “Having state specific treatment protocols was a game changer for us. It improved control rates, medicine supplies were better managed and streamlined the workload of health workers at the front line. We are also actively working towards ensuring that people come back for their treatment.”

Dr Pankaj Bharadwaj, Additional Professor, Dept. of Community and Family Medicine and Dean, School of Public Health, AIIMS Jodhpur, called for local level solutions, awareness building, creating robust patient support groups, and discussions with policymakers.

“We need to look for ways to strengthen health delivery for hypertension,” he added. The recently released National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 5 report reveals that more and more younger people are falling prey to hypertension. The findings also lend credence to fact that although easy and affordable to treat, treatment adherence rate for this condition is poorest.