Call for improving cardiovascular health by strengthening primary healthcare

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the leading risk factor for heart disease and accounts for more than 240,000 deaths annually in Bangladesh.

This preventable cause of heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease can be tackled by strengthening the primary health care system and increasing allocation in the health budget.

This was highlighted during a press conference on improving cardiovascular health in Bangladesh, held at the InterContinental Dhaka hotel on Saturday, the organisers said in a statement.

The event was jointly organised by the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh (NHFB), PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress), Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), and Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL).

“In Bangladesh, one out of every four adults has hypertension. Bangladesh has made rapid progress preventing deaths from infectious diseases. Now the country can also be a world leader in preventing heart attacks and strokes,” said Tom Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives and former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Bangladesh has made dramatic progress by increasing twentyfold the number of patients on treatment while also doubling the quality of treatment. Investing in the strengthening of primary care services to provide blood pressure treatment can prevent heart attacks and strokes, saving many lives,”

The prevalence of hypertension and other hypertension-related non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh is rapidly increasing due to an ageing population, rapid urbanisation, increases in sedentary lifestyle, processed food consumption, and other socioeconomic and lifestyle factors.

To alleviate the burden of non-communicable diseases imposed by hypertension, it is imperative to control blood pressure within the primary healthcare system and ensure the necessary financing is in place to sustain this effort.

Highlighting sodium as one of the major risk factors for hypertension, Frieden said, “Government policies can reduce sodium intake and prevent hypertension. Globally, excess sodium consumption leads to almost 2 million deaths each year. Four out of five of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.”

Non-Communicable Disease Control Program (NCDC), Directorate General of Health Services (NCDC DGHS) of the health ministry and the NHFB have been collaborating with RTSL, a global health non-profit organisation, to implement a programme that strengthens the detection, treatment and follow-up of hypertension in primary care since 2018.

“Substantial progress has been made over the past several years with the Bangladesh Hypertension Control Initiative,” said Professor Sohel Reza Choudhury, head of epidemiology and research at the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh.

“The programme is now active in 171 Upazilla Health Complexes and the blood pressure control rate has doubled from 26 percent to 52 percent. Scaling this program will mean more lives improved and saved throughout Bangladesh.”