May Measurement Month builds on its 2017 success

May Measurement Month launched in 2017 as a mass global blood pressure screening to raise awareness of hypertension continues in 2018.

When Professor Neil Poulter became President of the International Society of Hypertension in 2016, his mission was to improve the impact of treatment for hypertension. Why? Because raised blood pressure is the number one cause of death worldwide, leading to around 10 million deaths each year.  It also leads to many cardiovascular complications. Usually a symptomless condition, the challenge is to ensure raised blood pressure is detected, but according to the PURE study only 46.5% of people who have hypertension (blood pressure that has reached a level that needs treatment) actually know they have it, despite the fact that detection is very simple. It costs very little and takes only a few minutes to measure someone’s blood pressure (BP), which if raised, can be easily treated. Unless the public has access to screening which makes them aware, then the impact of effective treatments for controlling hypertension are limited.

“We want May Measurement Month to help turn 46% awareness to 96%. When we reach that level, we can stop” Professor Neil Poulter ISH President

This is the insight that brought about the launch of May Measurement Month (MMM) in 2017. A mass synchronised global blood pressure screening campaign led by the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) and endorsed by the World Hypertension League - building on World Hypertension Day. Its aims were two-fold, (1) to increase awareness of the issues surrounding raised BP, and (2) to create scientific evidence to inform and influence health policy to provide better access to screening.

Galvanising a global campaign of this scale is difficult to achieve with the largest of budgets, yet MMM17 measured the BP of over 1.2 million people across 100 countries in one month - with limited resources, relying on the goodwill of its many volunteers. Screenings took place in a wide variety of locations, including hospitals, community centres, schools, churches, markets, supermarkets and factories, and were promoted in a variety of ways reflecting the different cultural approaches needed for a campaign of this scale. As well as celebrity endorsement, MMM saw awareness marches in Pakistan, street plays and knocking on village doors in rural communities of India, engagement of community leaders in Malawi, as well as endorsement from government officials, including the former President, in the Philippines

Thanks to the efforts of MMM’s valued volunteers, we identified over 100,000 people with previously unidentified hypertension. We also found a similar large number of people being treated for hypertension – but without getting their BP’s low enough. These people can now take steps to lower their BP, which we know leads to longer, healthier lives.

Next stop - MMM18

MMM does not stop there. The analyses of the 2017 campaign have just been published by the Lancet Global Health Journal and now we want to continue to do more, so fewer lives are damaged or ended due to raised BP. 

Now we are looking for volunteers and partners to help us deliver our MMM ambitions. If you’d like to be part of MMM, then please get in touch: manager@maymeasure.com.

A Simple Measure to Save Lives - be part of it! #checkyourpressure

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY LISA WOODWARD, PART OF THE MMM TEAM.