LAUSR

Objectives: The objective of Nepal May Measurement Month (MMM) 2017 Study was to raise awareness about hypertension while evaluating hypertension status and medicines access situation during healthcare-facility exit interviews. Methods: Total 6,127 patients (mean age 38.7 ± 21.0 years) participated in facility based blood pressure screening – conducted at mean temperature of 28.3 ± 3.9 °C) – at nine districts in Nepal. Results: According to the WHO 1999 guidelines, 16.7% (n = 1021) were found hypertensive; however, this proportion would be 47.3% as per AHA, 2017 guidelines.55.7% of hypertensive were being treated and of them 94.4% were under control. In terms of access to medicines, hypertensive participants under treatment reported to obtain their antihypertensive medications predominantly from three sources: private hospitals or clinics (52.9%), followed by government health facilities (18.5%) and private retail pharmacies (17.6 %). Majority of hypertensive participants had to spend > = 30 minutes to reach nearest health facility (52.9%) for medicine refills, mostly so by walking (53.7%) and fewer by motor vehicles (42.3%) and bicycle (4%). Upon asked about medication adherence, 11.5% participants under treatment reported that they are forgetful to take medicines regularly, while 94.9% reported themselves being careless to take medicines regularly and 5.4% had missed a planned health care visit in last one month. Conclusion: Given the suboptimal treatment and adherence status, our study population is at higher risk of future cardiovascular events. Similar screening activities should be continued in future, by involving provincial and local governments and doing more or so by the participation of volunteers and students network.