Health experts and speakers on Tuesday urged the government to channel more resources from the national health budget into combating hypertension and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), warning that the rising burden of these illnesses poses a serious public health challenge.
They made the call at a workshop titled “Hypertension Control in Bangladesh: Progress, Challenges and Way Forward,” organised in the city’s BIP Conference Room by PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) in partnership with the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI). A total of 26 journalists from different print, television, and online outlets joined the programme.
Discussants highlighted that 35 ministries and divisions recently endorsed a joint declaration on NCDs to enhance inter-ministerial coordination, reads a press release.
They noted that NCDs, including hypertension, now account for nearly 71 per cent of annual deaths in Bangladesh. To reduce this toll, they underscored the urgency of sustainable funding and uninterrupted availability of blood pressure medication at community clinics and upazila health complexes.
Addressing the event, Dr Muhammad Habibur Rahman, line director of Community Based Health Care (CBHC), said, “The government is working to secure an uninterrupted flow of anti-hypertensive drugs across the country. Although there were temporary setbacks due to an inactive operational plan, the supply will soon be restored in all Upazila Health Complexes and Community Clinics.”
Present also at the workshop were – Spotlightnews24 Editor Morshed Noman; GHAI Associate Director for NCDs Ezinne Ezekwem; ATMA Convener Mortuza Haider Liton; ATMA Co-Convenors Nadira Kiron and Mizan Chowdhury; and PROGGA Executive Director ABM Zubair.
In addition, PROGGA Director Md Shahedul Alam and Coordinator Sadia Galiba Prova shared presentations on strategies for improving hypertension control in Bangladesh.