Havana, May 18 (RHC)-- Cuba is carrying out a series of actions to strengthen the program to control high blood pressure. An authorized source said this condition constitutes the most crucial health problem in the country.

With this objective in mind, the island's health authorities have designed a campaign that will last until May 17 next year, based on the Hearts initiative of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Its purpose is to promote the best global practices in the fight against cardiovascular diseases.

 Salvador Tamayo, head of the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases Program of the Ministry of Public Health, made the announcement to the media. He stressed the project is to be extended to the whole nation after its pilot implementation in some territories.

According to the official, high blood pressure directly impacts mortality as the leading cause of death on the island and causes great disability.

Cuba can reverse the course of non-communicable diseases in terms of mortality and disability because it has a health system with enormous potential, and social equity is prioritized, he said.

For her part, Yamilé Valdés, Deputy Director of Teaching and Research at the Calixto García University Hospital, mentioned how, following a call from the World Health Organization, a group of actions would be included that modify the procedures implemented to date.

These changes, she said, are based on three fundamental components: verification of the correct measurement of high blood pressure, calculation of cardiovascular risk, and therapeutics.

The country has had an arterial hypertension control program in place since 1975 that is periodically updated and is conducted by a technical advisory committee, she added.

 Valdés said that, according to the results of the first national health survey, conducted by the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and carried out in 2019, the prevalence of arterial hypertension increased in adults to 37.2 percent, from 30.9 percent in 2010.