Call for ensuring community clinic services to combat risk of hypertensive heart disease

As many as 277,000 people die of heart disease in Bangladesh every year, according to public health experts and heart specialists

Speakers at a World Heart Day webinar have called for steps to ensure community clinic-level services to combat the risk of hypertensive heart diseases.

Public health experts and heart specialists said at the webinar on Tuesday that 277,000 people die of heart disease in Bangladesh every year, one of the main causes of which is hypertension, the organisers said in a statement.

They also highlighted that untreated high blood pressure can lead to chest pain or angina, heart attack, heart failure, and irregular heartbeat.

To deal with this situation, it is necessary to create public awareness about hypertension and ensure the availability of blood pressure measurement and hypertension medicines in all community clinics across the country and increase the government's budget in this sector, the speakers said.

Dr Masud Reza Kabir, line director of Community-Based Health Care at the Directorate General of Health Services, said hypertension treatment has already started at the community clinic level and it will be possible to expand this programme in all community clinics across the country soon.

Research and advocacy organisation PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) organised the webinar with support from Global Health Advocacy Incubator.

World Heart Day 2022 will be observed on Thursday under the theme: "Use Heart for Every Heart".