Dhaka, May 13 -- Sustainable financing and a strong primary healthcare system are crucial to address the growing number of hypertension patients in the country, health experts and officials said at a discussion in the city on Wednesday.

They called for controlling hypertension through allocating the necessary funding to this sector in the upcoming 2026-27 fiscal year budget.

Furthermore, unhealthy diet, including intake of processed food, faulty lifestyle and the government failure to provide free anti-hypertensive medicines in the primary healthcare across the country for all are also contributing to the growing prevalence of hypertension, they added.

They said those at the discussion ahead of World Hypertension Day on May 17, titled ...