Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • November 2017
  • Article
  • Journal of Human Hypertension

A Retrospective Analysis of Hypertension Screening at a Mass Gathering in India: Implications for Non-communicable Disease Control Strategies

By: S. Balsari, P. Vemulapalli, M. Gofine, K. Oswal, R. Merchant, S. Saunik, G. Greenough and T. Khanna
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality from noncommunicable diseases (NCD) in India. The government’s National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke seeks to increase capacity building, screening, referral, and management of NCDs across India and includes community-based outreach and screening programs. The government in India routinely provides basic care at religious mass gatherings. However, in 2015, at the Kumbh Mela in Nashik and Trimbakeshwar, the state government extended its services to include a hypertension-screening program. We examine here the value and implications of such opportunistic screening at mass gatherings. At the Kumbh, 5,760 persons voluntarily opted for hypertension screening and received a single blood pressure measurement. In all, 1,783 (33.6%) screened positive, of whom 1,580 were previously unaware of their diagnosis. Of the 303 that previously had hypertension, 240 (79%) were prescribed medications, and 160 were compliant (that is, 52.8% under treatment). Fifty-five (18%) had normal blood pressure readings (BP under control). The data also demonstrated higher prevalence (39%) of hypertension among tobacco users compared to non-users (28%) (P<0.001). Poor recording of phone numbers (0.01%) precluded any phone-based follow-up. The low rates of hypertension awareness, treatment, and control underscore the ongoing challenge of both hypertension screening and management in India.

Keywords

Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Problems and Challenges; India

Citation

Balsari, S., P. Vemulapalli, M. Gofine, K. Oswal, R. Merchant, S. Saunik, G. Greenough, and T. Khanna. "A Retrospective Analysis of Hypertension Screening at a Mass Gathering in India: Implications for Non-communicable Disease Control Strategies." Journal of Human Hypertension 31, no. 11 (November 2017): 750–753.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Register to Read

About The Author

Tarun Khanna

Strategy
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • November–December 2022
    • Harvard Business Review

    Your Company Needs a Space Strategy. Now.

    By: Matthew Weinzierl, Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury, Tarun Khanna, Alan MacCormack and Brendan Rosseau
    • November 2022
    • Faculty Research

    AES Corp: A Global Power Transformation

    By: Tarun Khanna, Allison Ciechanover and Matt Higgins
    • November, 2022
    • Global Strategy Journal

    Role of Context in Knowledge Flows: Host Country versus Headquarters as Sources of MNC Subsidiary Knowledge Inheritance

    By: Mike Horia Teodorescu, Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna
More from the Authors
  • Your Company Needs a Space Strategy. Now. By: Matthew Weinzierl, Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury, Tarun Khanna, Alan MacCormack and Brendan Rosseau
  • AES Corp: A Global Power Transformation By: Tarun Khanna, Allison Ciechanover and Matt Higgins
  • Role of Context in Knowledge Flows: Host Country versus Headquarters as Sources of MNC Subsidiary Knowledge Inheritance By: Mike Horia Teodorescu, Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College