High blood pressure is called a silent killer because its symptoms are not easily noticed, but it silently damages the heart.

Most people suffer from high blood pressure, but many do not know they have the disease at first. But when you understand, the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and vision loss is very high.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 1.5 billion people in the world suffer from high blood pressure. And this problem kills about 7 million people worldwide every year.

In July of this year, it was reported in an event titled ‘Bangladesh Hypertension Control Initiatives’ that 65 percent of patients suffering from high blood pressure in Bangladesh are still out of reach of medical care. Among them, only 14 percent of patients have hypertension under control. That is, 86 percent of patients are unable to control their high blood pressure. Not only that, a total of 22 million people in the country are suffering from high blood pressure, but 51 percent of them are still undiagnosed.

It was informed at the event that these data were known using an application named HEART’S Costing Tool, which is used to estimate the annual implementation cost of high blood pressure control program jointly managed by the Department of Health’s Non-Communicable Disease Control (NCDC) and the National Heart Foundation. The event was organized by NCDC Program Pragya (Knowledge for Progress), the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh, Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), and Resolve to Save Lives of the Department of Health. They said that it is possible to provide quality treatment of high blood pressure or hypertension across the country by spending only 9 dollars per patient per year (846 rupees as 94 rupees per dollar). According to a new study published in the British Medical Journal, high blood pressure, which is preventable, is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and heart attack.

What is high blood pressure?
High blood pressure in the arteries of the heart is known as high blood pressure. This blood pressure is recorded using two values – the higher number is called the systolic pressure, and the lower number is called the diastolic pressure. During each heartbeat ie contraction and expansion of the heart, there is once systolic pressure and once diastolic pressure. An adult healthy normal human has a blood pressure of 120/80 millimeters of mercury. If someone’s blood pressure reading is 140/90 or higher, then they should know that they have high blood pressure. Although blood pressure can be slightly high or low regardless of age. If the blood pressure is not under control, there is a possibility of developing complications in some important organs of the body.

What problems are created?
This can cause a person’s heart to stop working or heart failure because the weakened heart cannot pump blood. In addition, there is also a risk of heart attack due to the narrowing of blood vessel walls. In such cases, there is a risk of death of the patient. Besides, in special cases, a person can also suffer blindness due to retinal hemorrhages due to high blood pressure.

Symptoms:
There are no very specific symptoms of high blood pressure. However, some common symptoms include severe headaches, hot flashes, and dizziness. Neck pain, nausea or vomiting, slight anger or restlessness, body tremors, not sleeping well at night, occasional ringing in the ears, and sometimes loss of consciousness.

The program is Some benefits:
Since 2018, the NCDC and the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh have been jointly implementing a project under the Department of Health in collaboration with the global public health non-profit organization Resolve to Save Lives, which aims to strengthen hypertension detection, treatment, and follow-up programs at primary health care centers. If this successful initial project is scaled up further, countless lives will be saved in the country by preventing costly diseases like heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure at a low cost.

President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives and former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr. According to Tom Frieden, one in five adults in Bangladesh has high blood pressure. Actions taken by the government to strengthen primary health care to treat high blood pressure in adults in Bangladesh will save countless lives and prevent heart attacks and strokes.

He said that although it is possible to control high blood pressure through common medicines, only 49 percent of the 22 million people suffering from high blood pressure in Bangladesh have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. Only 35 percent of them were taking medical care and 14 percent were able to control their blood pressure.

The high blood pressure control program jointly managed by NCDC and National Heart Foundation has been successfully implemented in 51 upazila health complexes of the country. Under this program, hypertension control services are being provided to the patients in accordance with WHO’s technical package. Of the 1 lakh patients registered so far for treatment under the program, 58 percent have been able to control their hypertension.

Using an application called the HEARTS Costing Tool used to estimate annual implementation costs of hypertension control programs, this study recommends ensuring task-sharing between doctors and others involved in the service, with local community health workers throughout the process through task-sharing. Implementation of the HEARTS package will be more cost-effective if the cost per unit of the drug is further reduced while maintaining greater coverage and quality. Increasing the role of nurses and other health workers in the management of blood pressure can save a lot of money.