Strategies for Better Hypertension Control in India and Other Lower Middle Income Countries

Abstract

Hypertension is the most important cause of global burden of disease. It is highly prevalent in India and other low and lower-middle income countries. Prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension varies from 70-90% and is significantly greater in rural vs urban locations. Guidelines based treatment strategy has improved blood pressure (BP) control in high income countries but no context-specific guidelines exist in low and lower-middle income countries such as India. There are numerous barriers to proper BP control in these countries and include political apathy, bureaucratic inertia, weak health systems, overburdened healthcare providers and unempowered patients. Hypertension control can be improved in these countries by better political focus on social determinants of health such as education, development of health systems, proper healthcare financing, free or low-cost BP medicines, healthcare provider education for hypertension management, free primary care, task sharing with trained community health workers, patient empowerment and use of technological innovations.