Community Hypertension Care in Sri Lanka: Current Approaches and Opportunities

Non-communicable disease-related deaths account for 69% of deaths in Southeast Asia. Hypertension (HTN) is the leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases globally. Sri Lanka, a low–middle-income South Asian country, has a population prevalence of HTN of 35%. A narrative synthesis combining results from academic medical databases and relevant grey literature was performed to review Sri Lanka’s national healthcare strategy for HTN management in outpatient clinical settings. Despite significant investments in primary healthcare infrastructure, only approximately 2% of the target adult population is screened annually and only approximately 40% of patients with documented HTN have achieved treatment goals. HTN management remains difficult due to broader health system challenges and sociodemographic factors. Preventative medicine is still conceptually quite unfamiliar to the population. Additional strategies to improve community HTN care should include a team-based systematic approach, patient-centric community-based education and corporate and civic partnerships to improve healthcare delivery and promote public awareness.