Improving hypertension control in 3 million people: country experiences of programme development and implementation

Overview

The WHO, Resolve to Save Lives  – an initiative of Vital Strategies – and other partners are working with national and subnational governments to support their work to improve the control of hypertension using the WHO HEARTS technical package. One of the main strategies is implementing the HEARTS technical package, which provides proven, affordable and scalable solutions to improve control of hypertension at the primary care level. Five components are necessary for a successful hypertension control programme: drug- and dose-specific treatment protocols; access to quality-assured medications and blood pressure monitors; team-based care; patient-centred care delivered in the community, and information systems to enable quality improvement. This case series brings out the programmatic experience of protocol-based treatment of more than 3 million persons from 18 countries around the world over a remarkably short period. The wide variety of countries represented indicates the feasibility of the programme in different settings.