Hypertension case management in « Plateau central » health region, Burkina Faso: State of the art in 2008

Abstract

High blood pressure represents a public health concern over the world. Around 28 % of people in sub Saharan Africa and 23 % in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) are affected by the disease. Health care system use to deal with infectious disease and is very few prepared to promptly and adequately manage chronic diseases such as hypertension.

To improve the health facilities performance, the hypertension case management system has been evaluated through a cross sectional survey targeting 25 caregivers into health districts of Boussé and Ziniaré.

The main shortcomings are the lack of sphymotensiometer within health centers, the opportunities missed to evaluate blood pressure during care delivery, the poor quality of drug prescription and the lack of updating caregiver’s knowledge.

To improve the capacity of the health facilities to deal with hypertension, we must identify the needs h taking into account patients concerns, caregivers concern and organizational opportunities given by otlw1 disease management such as tuberculosis.