Hypertension in Pakistan: What are we going to do about it?

Abstract

Ever since the very early population surveys done by the National Institue of Cardiovascular Diseases Karachi in the sixties, there has been data available suggesting the very high prevalence of hypertension in Pakistan. These initial surveys were supplemented by other surveys done three decades ago by the PMRC and other individual workers, also suggesting the high prevalence of hypertension being around 10% of the general adult population of Pakistan. The surveys in school children and m special populations like shopkeepers and armed forces personnel added important information and again subscribed to the high prevalence of hypertension in the general public in Pakistan.The recent PMRC Pakistan health survey has come outwith, for the first time in the history of the country, definitive and representative data from all parts of Pakistan. The prevalence ofhypertension seen in variàus populations and sub-populations has reconfirmed the impressions by the earlier surveys that hypertension is a very common disorder im Pakistan.Where do we go from here? The problem and the challenge has been identified, the resources and limitations of the health delivery system and the general health and social indicators of Pakistan are well-known. What then is going to be the strategy to address this