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- Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) in collaboration with World Health Organization and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided to expand its India Hypertension Control Initiative(IHCI) across the country.
- IHCI was launched in 2017.The initiative has enrolled more than three lakh patients with high blood pressure in government health facilities in 25 selected districts in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, and Maharashtra.
- This will now be expanded to cover 100 districts across all states.The expansion is expected to accelerate the implementation of quality hypertension treatment for over 15 crore population over the next four years.
- The key features of the Initiative include (a)treatment protocols that simplify quality patient care in primary care facilities (b)provision of adequate supply of quality medicines and blood pressure monitors (c)comprehensive training for healthcare workers at all levels on the latest practices in hypertension treatment and (d)team-based care for counseling and follow up of the patients.
- This initiative was launched as in India,one in four adults has high blood pressure.Among them,only half have been diagnosed and only 10% have their blood pressure under control.As a result,a large number of people develop heart attacks,strokes and kidney failure while in their productive years of life.
- Hypertension is also known as high blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force exerted by the blood against the walls of the blood vessels.
