Facilitators And Barriers to Hypertension Control, Fol-lowing the Implementation of India Hypertension Con-trol Initiative (IHCI) In Thiruvananthapuram District – A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

Background: India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) was launched in 2017 to improve the control rate of hypertensive patients on treatment. Thiruvananthapuram was one of the 26 districts in the coun-try where the programme was initially rolled out. Methods: A qualitative cross-sectional study was conducted among stakeholders involved in the imple-mentation of IHCI of Thiruvananthapuram district. Purposive sampling method was used for the selec-tion of samples. A total of 25 in-depth interviews were carried out. Results: The major facilitators which propelled hypertension control were uniformity in drug prescrip-tion, proper documentation of patient data along with indicators for measuring control rates and a de-faulter tracking mechanism. Clinical inertia among doctors, increased workload and sending of bystand-ers for monthly follow-up are the major barriers that affected hypertension control. Conclusions: Replication of good practices performed under IHCI into similar health settings or pro-grammes can be encouraged. Apart from the few barriers seen at the programme level, the already exist-ing barriers at the health system level need to be addressed immediately through efforts such as e-Health incorporation and trainings.