Trinidad and Tobago has become the first country to scale-up the HEARTS initiative to all public primary health care centers across the country.
September 2022
“They told me that my blood pressure was too high, and that the situation had to be addressed and corrected” says Krishna Maharaj, a patient at the primary care center in Freeport, Trinidad and Tobago.
Mr. Maharaj is not alone: 30% of men and 23% of women in this island nation have high blood pressure (also known as hypertension). Hypertension dramatically increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, and often goes unnoticed by the patient. But it is preventable and easily treatable so long as health leadership prioritizes heart health. This is exactly what has happened in Trinidad and Tobago.