Today is World Hypertension Day, a grim reminder of hypertension being responsible for 10 Million deaths annually all over the World. Also, 2/3 of the World hypertensive patients are in developing countries, such as India, China etc.

Hypertension is the leading cause of strokes, cardiovascular deaths, heart attacks, CKD, blindness, and dementia. Unfortunately, its prevalence is rapidly increasing in India due to lifestyle changes and estimates suggest that out of every 1 in 4 adults who suffer from hypertension, half of them would not be aware of their high blood pressure. Moreover, only 15% of the hypertensives would be able to control their blood pressures.

If this needs to change, primary care physicians will have to take the lead in being aggressive about Blood Pressure control. The World Hypertension League has suggested simple protocols for Blood Pressure Control at the primary care level which are easy, affordable and simple to follow.

Today being World Hypertension Day doctors should adopt simple protocols and spread the knowledge so as to reach every primary health center. Health centres could also take the help of ASHA workers to deliver inexpensive medicines for blood pressure control to every home across the country. These ASHA workers can also be coached on giving lifestyle advice to every hypertensive patient in villages.

It is imperative that each one of us follow a few basic protocols, given below,  that can be used by any primary care physician in the country, thereby helping to control the growing NCD epidemic in our country.

The treatment protocol given here are intended for use in a variety of clinical settings and with patients with diverse comorbidities. These treatment protocols are advocated by the World Hypertension League (WHL).