Hypertension affects a staggering one billion people worldwide, and is responsible for nearly ten million deaths annually – as many as all infectious diseases combined. Furthermore, most of the disease burden from hypertension occurs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where people develop the disease at a younger age and experience worse outcomes than in high-income countries. You are far more likely to die from hypertension-related complications in Ghana, Mongolia, or Vietnam than you are in Britain, France, or the United States. (...)

On a recent visit to a hospital in Accra, Ghana, I saw firsthand the suffering and grief caused by hypertension. Hospital wards are filled with dozens of debilitated or dying young adults – working-age people who are responsible for families – suffering the effects of stroke or other complications of hypertension. Similar scenes play out throughout the LMICs." (Photo: Anne Aerts, Novartis Foundation)