Hypertension is the leading cause of preventable death globally, yet only one in five people with high blood pressure have it under control despite availability of effective, low-cost medicines and the WHO HEARTS technical package of effective, scalable hypertension control interventions.
Since 2017, Resolve to Save Lives has collaborated with national governments and other stakeholders to support HEARTS-based hypertension control programs. By December 2024, approximately 34 million people were started on treatment at over 220,000 primary care facilities across 38 countries.
Eight years of Global HEARTS implementation shows that the most effective route to progress is phased implementation, with expansion achieved through development of infrastructure and health care worker capacity, reliable and affordable medicine supply, and a robust information system that includes HEARTS indicators and dashboards for program monitoring. Political will, sustainable financing, medications free to patients, integration into national primary health care agendas, and strong hypertension program champions are also important drivers of successful national scale-up in Global HEARTS countries including Cuba, India, and Sri Lanka.
Read more about the common barriers to and facilitators of success and the lessons learned from this ongoing multi-country collaboration.
