Govt needs to spend $9 per patient annually
Life-saving care for high blood pressure -- the leading preventable risk factor for heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes -- can be expanded nationwide if the government spends $9 per patient annually, according to a study.
Expanding the roles of nurses and other healthcare providers to support blood pressure management can save money, making treatment more feasible and accessible nationally, according to the study.
Funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and National Heart Foundation jointly conducted the study under the hypertension control pilot programme, in collaboration with Resolve to Save Lives.
The programme has been successfully implemented in 51 upazila health complexes.
Starting in 2018, the programme has so far registered 1,00,000 patients for treatment and has successfully controlled blood pressure of 58 percent of the patients during treatment.
Published in the British Medical Journal, the study findings were also shared at an event in Dhaka yesterday.
"In the span of two years, the programme has registered more than 1,00,000 patients -- averaging more than 4,000 new patients a month -- with a 58 percent blood-pressure control rate, almost fourfold the national average," said Prof Md Robed Amin, line director of non-communicable disease control programme at DGHS.
Many lives can be saved -- with prevented heart attacks and strokes -- by investing in strengthening primary care services to provide blood pressure treatment to Bangladeshi adults, said Dr Tom Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives and former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at the event.
"Thirty percent of deaths in Bangladesh are due to heart disease, but less than 5 percent of Bangladesh's health-sector budget is allocated for addressing non-communicable diseases," said National Professor Brig (retd) Abdul Malik, founder and president of National Heart Foundation.
"The pilot programme shows that high-blood-pressure patients can get care at a low cost at primary healthcare settings countrywide," he said.
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