Is high blood pressure the new HIV epidemic?

MUMBAI: Hypertension or high blood pressure could be as devastating to global health as HIV.
This is a warning spelt out in the International Journal of Epidemiology this week. Experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have warned that the response of most governments and international aid agencies to hypertension is little better than the reaction of HIV\AIDS 20 years back - too little, too late.
Mayo Clinic describes high blood pressure as a common condition in which the force of the blood against the artery walls is high enough that it may eventually cause health problems, such as heart disease and stroke. In India, hypertension is one of the largest epidemics along with diabetes and is believed to affect 25% of the country's adult population.
Experts believe that the number of deaths attributable to hypertension over the next 20 years may substantially exceed the number resulting from HIV/AIDS.
Writing in the International Journal of Epidemiology this week, Prof Peter Lloyd-Sherlock from the University of East Anglia (UEA), Prof Shah Ebrahim and Prof Heiner Grosskurth of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, say there is "denial" and misunderstanding about the impact of hypertension, despite the two conditions (HIV and hypertension) having a number of things in common. Both diseases can be treated and managed as chronic conditions through a combination of drug treatment and lifestyle changes.
"It has been suggested that valuable lessons for hypertension could be taken from HIV/AIDS policies. Yet there is little indication that these are being taken on board. Our response to the global epidemic of hypertension seems little better than our response to HIV/AIDS two decades ago: too little too late. Can we not wake up earlier this time, before millions have died?
"HIV is a major global health priority and is recognised as a serious threat to public health and development in many poorer countries. Hypertension is seen as a disease of the West, of prosperity and therefore of little relevance to poorer countries. This is despite the growing body of evidence that prevalences in poorer countries are quickly catching up."
Obesity, lack of physical exercise and poor diet are responsible for the epidemic of hypertension sweeping across nations. "While hypertension is not an infectious disease, the risky behaviours associated with it are spreading fast and seem to be as effectively transmitted as infectious agents,'' the authors wrote.
"HIV was faced with political denial and public misunderstanding in the early years of the pandemic, especially in some poorer countries. There is a similar pattern of denial with hypertension...This denial is based on the misguided view that hypertension does not affect poorer social groups. Yet there is substantial evidence that hypertension is highly prevalent among poorer groups and that they are less likely to have access to effective treatment. As with HIV, hypertension can be both a cause and a consequence of poverty.
"Recent debate about the extent to which global health policy priorities should shift from infectious diseases such as HIV to non-communicable diseases such as hypertension...has mainly pivoted on a social gradient 'beauty contest', disputing the pace at which conditions such as hypertension affect the poor ... Rather than framing policy as a choice between competing priorities, the key challenge is to roll out services and interventions which address both."