Salt Action Summary

September 2008

Nepal has become very active in raising awareness to consumers and policy makers through a series of research seminars, led by the President of the Nepal hypertension Society, Dr Pandey.

Mrigendra Samjhana Medical Trust (MSMT) was established by Dr Pandey in 1975. The overall objective of the Trust is to provide medical care, health services and social services to the underprivileged community, together with education, drinking water, income and employment generating facilities, improved indoor environment and anti-tobacco activities in the country. It is active in many rural communities including remote areas like Jumla (near the Tibetan boarder), which has high salt intake. MSMT has done first hypertension survey in Nepal on 1981. After 25 years repeat scientific survey was done by Nepal Hypertension Society in collaboration with MSMT in 2006 in the same rural community of Nepal and the prevalence of hypertension has been increased by three times.

June 2008

The Nepal Hypertension Society was established in January 2004 by doctors and social workers. It was founded to provide awareness of the prevalence, causes, prevention and treatment of hypertension and its complications. The Society became a member of World Hypertension League in September 2004. In Nepal, hypertension is a rapidly increasing and relatively neglected problem. Almost one in three adults in our population suffer from it. The objectives of the Nepal Hypertension Society are:

• To make the people of Nepal aware of the dangers of the disease and the importance of prevention and treatment to goal by lifestyle measures and, wherever necessary, supplemented by medications.
• To conduct meetings, seminars and conferences for the prevention and control of hypertension.
• To initiate health camps for identifying and treating hypertensive patients.
• To perform studies and research on hypertension.

For more information see: http://worldhypertensionleague.org/documents/newsletters/2008/whl119.pdf [PDF]