Pressure points

Indians need better diagnosis and treatment of hypertension

Findings by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the dangerous prevalence of untreated hypertension in India are pointers to the country’s inadequate health care system and the unhealthy lifestyles of  increasingly prosperous Indians. The WHO report found that only 37 per cent of the 188.3 million Indians living with hypertension were aware of their situation, only 30 per cent of those diagnosed started treatment, and just 15 per cent managed to control the disease. The latter fact points to the key problem. In most developed countries where populations are screened, diagnosed, and treated, about half manage to control their blood