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DHAKA: High blood pressure tops the list of diseases affecting people in Bangladesh, with related non-communicable diseases causing around 571,000 deaths annually, according to figures presented at a journalists’ workshop in the capital on Sunday.
Speakers at the workshop urged the government to allocate a significant portion of its increased health budget to controlling high blood pressure, saying this could reduce the risk of related non-communicable diseases and prevent thousands of deaths.
The call was made at a workshop titled “Sustainable Financing for Hypertension Control in Bangladesh: Progress, Barriers and the Way Forward” at the BMA Bhaban in Dhaka.
The research and advocacy organisation PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) organised the event with support from the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI). A total of 28 journalists from print, television and online media attended.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics’ Health and Morbidity Status Survey 2025, high blood pressure ranked first among the country’s 10 leading diseases.
Bangladesh recorded around 283,800 deaths from heart disease in 2024, with high blood pressure responsible for 52 per cent of them, the workshop was told.
The growing prevalence of hypertension among young people was also highlighted as a concern. Data from the Bangladesh NCD STEPS Survey 2018 showed that around 12 per cent of people aged 18 to 39 were living with high blood pressure.
Mohammad Riad Arefin, deputy general manager for sales and marketing at Essential Drugs Company Limited, said the increase in the health budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year was an important government initiative.
He said prioritising hypertension control in the additional allocation could help ensure an uninterrupted supply of free medicines for disadvantaged communities.
Daulat Akter Mala, president of the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF), said non-communicable diseases accounted for 71 per cent of all deaths in Bangladesh, while only 4.2 per cent of the health budget was allocated to addressing them.
The media could play an important role in highlighting the need for increased funding, she added.
Muhammad Ruhul Quddus, Bangladesh country lead at GHAI, said high blood pressure affected more people in the country than any other disease and stressed the need for sustainable financing to control it.
The workshop was chaired by ABM Zubair, executive director of PROGGA, while programme officer Samiha Binte Kamal delivered a thematic presentation.