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STORY: WHO / GLOBAL HYPERTENSION REPORT
TRT: 06:12
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN / EMBARGO TILL 14:00 CET, 13:00 GMT, 08 AM EST, TUESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2025
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 16 SEPTEMBER 2025, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE – WHO
1. Exteriors, WHO Headquarters, Geneva
PRE-RECORDED 16 SEPTEMBER 2025, GENEVA
2. Cutaway, WHO expert speaking
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Alarcos Cieza, Unit Head, Management of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), WHO:
“We say in the report, hypertension is a crisis, but it’ss a crisis that is solvable. It is a crisis because 1.4 billion people today have hypertension, and only 1 in 5 have this hypertension under control. What this really means is that more than 1 billion people have hypertension, have hypertension without any treatment. And for that reason, they are at risk of heart attack, of a stroke of kidney disease or of getting other illnesses such as dementia.”
4. Cutaway, WHO expert speaking
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Alarcos Cieza, Unit Head, Management of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), WHO:
“All of this is also solvable. And we demonstrate in the report what are those actions that some countries are following in order to solve this crisis of hypertension?”
6. Cutaway, WHO expert speaking
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Alarcos Cieza, Unit Head, Management of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), WHO:
“The biggest barriers are that in the population there is no awareness at all that hypertension is a big deal. The second one is that of course there is not enough workforce in the facilities, but also that there is not enough trained workforce, there is not a standardized protocol. Medicines are too expensive. There is no data. But the biggest barrier of all is that there is not the political commitment to get this crisis addressed, because once the political commitment is there, then action follows.”
8. Cutaway, WHO expert speaking
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Alarcos Cieza, Unit Head, Management of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), WHO:
“There is a lot of disparity. And let me give an example. If we look at high income countries, 93% of them have available, the four key medications to treat hypertension. Compared to low income countries it’s only 28% of those. So, you can already see the disparity. If these medicines are not available, then people who need these medicines will not be able to treat them.”
10. Cutaway, WHO expert speaking
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Alarcos Cieza, Unit Head, Management of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), WHO:
“There are only four countries today in which the hypertension control rate, that means the percentage of people who have hypertension and who are under treatment, and get it under control, is above 50%.”
12. Cutaway, WHO expert speaking
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Alarcos Cieza, Unit Head, Management of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), WHO:
“Actually, in the report we go in depth into three examples. One of them is South Korea. The other one is the Philippines. And the third one is Bangladesh. And all these three countries have at national level like South Korea, increase the hypertension control rate to about 50%. And for Philippines and Bangladesh are in those areas of the countries where they have made an extra effort to get a hypertension under control and they have also achieved in a couple of years, I hypertension rates above 50%. And the first one is political commitment. The second one is, with political commitment comes the second one, that is priority. I prioritize hypertension to get it included in health benefit packages. That means that hypertension treatment or the identification and treatment and care, is paid by insurance scheme, National Insurance schemes so that patients do not need to pay out of pocket.”
14. Cutaway, WHO expert speaking
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Alarcos Cieza, Unit Head, Management of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), WHO:
“If countries get the control rate about 50%, millions of lives can be saved every year from avoiding simply heart attacks and strokes. But in addition to that, it would be what we call a great return on investment, because we know that if countries invest in hypertension care, a single dollar, they will get 18 in return. And it is 18 and return based of saving future healthcare costs but also productivity cost.”
16. Cutaway, WHO expert speaking
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Alarcos Cieza, Unit Head, Management of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), WHO:
“We are also quite hopeful because there will be what we call a political declaration, that all head of states will commit to and that will endorse and will say, we want to do these things that are in the declaration. And one of those things is to have 150 million more people with hypertension under control by 2030.”
18. Cutaway, WHO expert speaking
The World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday (23 Sep) released its second Global Hypertension Report, showing that 1.4 billion people live with hypertension in 2024, yet just over one in five have it under control.
The new report, released at an event co-hosted by WHO, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Resolve to Save Lives during the UN General Assembly, also reveals that only 7 out of 25 low-income countries report that all five WHO-recommended hypertension medicines are generally available in pharmacies or primary care facilities.
Hypertension is a leading cause of heart attack, stroke, chronic kidney disease, and dementia. It is both preventable and treatable - but without urgent action, millions of people will continue to die prematurely, and countries will face mounting economic losses. From 2011 to 2025, cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, have been projected to cost low- and middle-income countries around USD 3.7 trillion- roughly 2% of GDP.
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