AstraZeneca to reach 10 million hypertension patients by 2025

By Francis Emorut

More than 10 million people suffering from hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, are to be reached by the 2025.

This was announced by AstraZeneca based in Kenya in commemoration of the World Hypertension Day – May 17.

With support from Healthy Heart African Initiative, the organization will roll out the screening exercise for hypertension patients across Kenya in collaboration with NGOs as well as the Kenyan ministry of health.

In a press release, AstraZeneca aims at improving hypertension screening, treatment and care in Africa.

“Hypertension is an often-overlooked non-communicable disease that puts patients at high risk of developing more serious cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as coronary heart disease and stroke,” a press statement states.

At 46.1%, Africa has the highest prevalence of adults with hypertension.

Cardiovascular disease is currently the leading cause of death among those aged over 45 on the continent the, according to the communication.

Healthy Heart Africa is built on three key pillars which include;

• Education and awareness:  conducting campaign and awareness-raising activities that will encourage people to seek screening and diagnosis when needed.

• Training and guidelines: building healthcare workers’ capacity to provide comprehensive and appropriate hypertension care, based on guidelines developed in collaboration with professional societies and the Kenyan health ministry.

• Access and affordability: strengthening the supply chain for antihypertensive medicines and ensuring patients can access affordable, high-quality care.

‘Call to action’
 

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A health worker examines the blood pressure of a woman

AstraZeneca is testing the implementation of these components through five demonstration projects in Kenya.

It is doing so with partners that include AMPATH, AMREF Kenya, the Christian Health Association of Kenya, Jhpiego, Population Services Kenya, Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS).

The 18-month project focuses on integrating hypertension care into existing health platforms, with the goal of scaling successful models across Kenya in partnership with the ministry of health.

Samer Al Hallaq, vice president AstraZeneca for the Healthy Heart Africa, said: “World Hypertension Day is a call to action for everyone to rise to the challenge of addressing hypertension.”

 “We have already achieved early milestones in improving hypertension care in Kenya,” he said.

Since the launch of Healthy Heart Africa in Kenya last year, he added, it has demonstrated its capability of ensuring patients suffering from hypertension are reached.

 AstraZeneca and its implementing partners have collaborated with the Kenyan health ministry to:

• Develop a hypertension treatment protocol

• Create materials and train over 1,000 health care providers and community health workers

• Launch the ‘blood pressure matters’ awareness and prevention campaign on hypertension

• Begin mobilization of 250+ health facilities to provide hypertension services

• Screen over 10,000 patients during the initial implementation phase (first 15 days)

Healthy Heart Africa is building on its early milestones to fully activate its network of 2,000 healthcare providers and community health workers to begin delivering hypertension education and awareness, screening and treatment services to patients.

It is also training and employing Hypertension Nurses across the territories to support and mentor healthcare providers, build capacity within the facilities and further improve patient care through the programme.

AstraZeneca’s ambition through the programme is to ensure that patients across Africa with high blood pressure are on treatments which control their condition by 2025, supporting the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) ‘25 by 25’ global monitoring framework for preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases.