Staff Reporter :
The burden of hypertension in Bangladesh is expected to increase in the coming years due to an aging population, rapid urbanization, lifestyles with very little physical activities, consumption of processed foods, and other socioeconomic factors.
Sources said that 20 pc of adult and 40-65pc of elderly people suffer from hypertension (HTN) in Bangladesh.
Of them, only 49 percent of the approximately two crore 20 lakh people with HTN in the country have been diagnosed in hospitals while only 35 percent are receiving medical care, and 14 percent have been able to control their blood pressure, sources said.
High blood pressure, which is preventable, is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke and heart attack.
A new study recently published in the British Medical Journal found that standard treatment for high blood pressure or hypertension can be provided nationwide at a cost of only $9 per patient per year.
The Non-Communicable Disease Control Program (NCDC) under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, have been jointly implementing a project to control hypertension since 2018.
This hypertension control program in Bangladesh has been designed following the best practices in the world.
The objective of this program is to strengthen the detection, treatment and follow-up activities of hypertension in primary health care centers.
Of the one lakh patients registered for treatment under the program, 58 percent have been able to control their hypertension so far. Resolve to Save Lives, a global non-profit health organization is providing support to implement the program.
“Thirty percent of deaths in Bangladesh are from heart disease, but less than 5pc of Bangladesh’s health sector budget is allocated to addressing non-communicable diseases,” said National Professor Brig (Rtd.) Abdul Malik, Founder and President of the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh.
He said, “There is an urgent need to improve control of high blood pressure, which the pilot program shows can be done at low cost through primary health care, even at the national level.”
Expansion of this program in Bangladesh could save many lives at a low cost, the expert said.
