Speakers tell webinar
The number of heart-disease patients in Bangladesh has been rising alarmingly, mostly owing to hypertension, said speakers at a webinar on Saturday.
About one in every five (21 percent) adults at present are suffering from hypertension, and the situation is bound to deteriorate unless measures are taken immediately, they said at the discussion titled “World Health Day and Hypertension”.
Progga (Knowledge for Progress), an advocacy and research organisation, organised the discussion, with support from the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI).
Dr Shamim Jubayer of National Heart Foundation presented a keynote at the beginning of the discussion.
Speakers said hypertension causes increased risks of cardiovascular diseases and related mortality in manifolds.
“But, shortage of hypertension medicine at healthcare centres remains a big concern. Medicine and treatment must be made affordable across the country,” said GHAI Bangladesh Country Lead Muhammad Ruhul Quddus.
ABM Zubair, executive director of Progga, said, “The WHO recommends allocation of 15 percent of the annual budget of a country for the health sector, whereas in Bangladesh, allocation has been around 5 percent in the last few years.”
He urged the government to increase budgetary allocation for healthcare.
The government has set a national target of 25-percent reduction in prevalence of raised blood pressure by 2025, as a measure for preventing non-communicable diseases.
Such target calls for mass awareness on the issue coupled with ensuring hypertension treatment and drug supply at all healthcare centres, speakers said.
– with The Daily Star input
