Treatment of Arterial Hypertension during Rapid Economic and Political Transition in Poland

Abstract

Hypertension, due to its prevalence and serious complications, constitutes a major public health problem and implies a great economical and social cost. In the U.S., "The National High Blood Pressure Education Program" was developed and implemented in early seventies. Subsequently, improved levels of awareness, treatment and control of hypertension were demonstrated, coincident with continued declines in coronary heart disease mortality and striking declines in stroke mortality. At present, in the eastern part of Europe where cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are on the increase, there is a particulary urgent need for more vigorous public health action against hypertension. The potential activities that should be undertaken are discussed in this paper in the context of a rapid transformation into a market economy, which followed the collapse of the former economic and political system. This process, being in itself a unique psychological and social experience for our populations, presents a source of many difficulties to adjust to new economic conditions, progress in medical knowledge and new mechanisms at the pharmaceutical market.