Staff Correspondent

In order to combat the growing prevalence of hypertension in Bangladesh, the government has taken a decision to provide anti-hypertensive medicine from Community Clinic. While the provision of anti-hypertensive medicine has already commenced from some Community Clinics, it is crucial to ensure its availability in all Community Clinics to effectively control hypertension-related non-communicable diseases and deaths associated with it.

At the same time, necessary funding must be ensured for an uninterrupted supply of the medicine. These issues were highlighted at a workshop for journalists titled “Hypertension Control in Bangladesh: Progress and Way Forward” held at the BDS Conference Hall in Barishal metropolis on Thursday.

The workshop was organized by research and advocacy organization PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) with support from Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI). A total of 28 journalists from Barishal division working in print, electronic, and online media houses participated in the workshop.

It was informed at the workshop that one in every four adults in Bangladesh is suffering from hypertension and it is one of the major risk factors for various non-communicable diseases including heart diseases, stroke, cancer, kidney diseases, respiratory diseases and diabetes. According to WHO’s first Global Report on Hypertension 2023, 2 lakh 73 thousand people died of cardiovascular disease in 2019 in Bangladesh and 54 percent of these fatalities were attributable to hypertension. Although non-communicable diseases account for 70 percent of the total deaths in Bangladesh, the budgetary allocation dedicated to combat NCDs is alarmingly low, comprising only 4.2 percent of the total health budget.

PROGGA’s Director Md. Shahedul Alam and Coordinator Sadia Galiba Prova delivered presentations on hypertension control. Aroop Talukdar, Eminent Journalist of Barishal, and Swapon Khandoker, Central Committee Member of Anti-Tobacco Media Alliance (ATMA) and Special Correspondent of Daily Ajker Paribartan participated in the workshop as discussants.

Ensuring the availability of anti-hypertensive medicine from all Community Clinics to effectively address worrying non-communicable diseases like hypertension along with sustainable funding can prevent heart attacks and strokes and save lives.