WHO report reveals 5.8 million patients are under hypertension treatment in India; drug availability remains biggest issue

PSM News /

Sep 21,2023

 

Around 5.8 million hypertension patients across 27 states were being treated under the Indian Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI's) as of June 2023, the World Health Organization said in a recent report and pointed to the availability of medicines as the biggest challenge . The IHCI aims to achieve the government's objective of reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by 25 per cent by 2025 through evidence-based strategies to strengthen the building blocks of hypertension management and control, its website said.

 

The initiative was launched in 2017 and involves the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Indian Council of Medical Research, State Governments, and WHO-India.

 

India was among more than 40 low- and middle-income countries, including Bangladesh, Cuba and Sri Lanka, which have strengthened their hypertension care. All the LMICs have together enrolled more than 17 million people into treatment programmes, Who said in its report.

 

Under the IHCI, which was enabled by support from WHO consultants, 27 Indian states and union territories had developed a standard treatment protocol for hypertension, based on the WHO HEARTS technical package, said the 'Global Report on Hypertension'.

 

Developed to help countries with cardiovascular disease management in primary health care, the package describes cost-effective strategies to control blood pressure and prevent heart attack, stroke and other complications, it said.

 

Components of the package include standardised drug- and dose-specific treatment protocol, uninterrupted access to quality medications and a monitoring system to track patient progress and health system performance, it said.

 

Pointing to challenges faced by the IHCI following its launch, the report said availability of medicines emerged as the biggest challenge, which discouraged a patient from returning to facilities for follow-up visits in some areas.

 

Source: Economic Times