Swarnomoyee Mostafa Oishy:

Hypertension is one of the major causes of heart disease. According to the World Health Organization, 1.28 billion people suffer from high blood pressure worldwide and two-thirds of them live in low- and middle-income countries, including Bangladesh. Public health experts and heart specialists highlighted this information at a webinar titled “Hypertension and Heart Disease Risks in Bangladesh and the Needful,” organized by research and advocacy organization PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) with support from Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) on September 27 marking the World Heart Day-2022. The day will be observed on Thursday (September 29) under the theme “Use Heart for Every Heart”, said a press release.

It was informed at the webinar that 2 lakh 77 thousand people die of heart disease in Bangladesh every year, one of the main causes of which is hypertension. One in every five adults in Bangladesh suffers from hypertension, which is very alarming. Untreated high blood pressure can lead to chest pain or angina, heart attack, heart failure, and irregular heartbeat. It is a matter of concern that in recent times, prevalence of heart disease is being observed among the youth of the country. 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.

Dr. Masud Reza Kabir, Line Director of Community Based Health Care (CBHC) at Director General of Health Services (DGHS) said that hypertension treatment has already started at the community clinic level and it will be possible to expand this program in all community clinics across the country soon.

Professor Dr. Sohel Reza Choudhury, Head of Department of Epidemiology & Research, National Heart Foundation; Professor Dr. S M Mustafa Zaman, Department of Cardiology at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU); Muhammad Ruhul Quddus, Bangladesh Country Lead, GHAI; NHF RESOLVE Hypertension Control Program Manager Dr. Mahfuzur Rahman Bhuiyan and Deputy Program Manager Dr Shamim Jubayer; and ABM Zubair, Executive Director of PROGGA were also present at the webinar as discussants. The webinar was moderated by PROGGA’s Coordinator Sadia Galiba Prova. People of different professions from different regions of the country participated in the webinar.