GENEVA: Nearly 1.3 billion people globally suffer from hypertension, a silent killer often driven by obesity that increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and kidney disease, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday .
While hypertension rates have changed little in 30 years, the caseload has shifted to lower-income countries as wealthy nations have brought it largely under control, the study said. "Many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, parts of South Asia, some of the Pacific island nations, they are still not getting the treatments that are needed," he said.
"We know that the treatment is cheap, it's low cost medicines. But there is a need to include them in the UHC so this is not a cost for the patient, it has to be covered by the insurance system," said Bente Mikkelsen, director of the WHO's department of noncommunicable diseases.
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