How to Prevent High Blood Pressure -

Running head: HYPERTENSION HEALTH PROMOTION
Community assessment and prevention of hypertension
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HYPERTENSION HEALTH PROMOTION1
Health issue: Hypertension
Introduction
Hypertension is a chronic medical condition wherein the blood pressure against the walls of
the arteries remains elevated resulting in high blood pressure. It presents long-term risk
factors for strokes, heart diseases, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation and other clinical
conditions. It is a result of lifestyle and genetic factors. It is a leading health issue with
widespread prevalence in the community (Pancha Mbouemboue et al., 2016). This paper is
divided into three sections. Part one discusses three key strategies using Laverack’s ladder to
implement a program in the community addressing hypertension. Part two describes the
application of the core domains of building capacity to empower communities and prevent
the prevalence of hypertension. Part three sets out methods to promote health and educate the
community about hypertension, and identifies the advantages and disadvantages of the
methods.
Strategies for community-based interactions
Hypertension is an increasing health concern with increasing trends in the community. It is
associated with the continued high blood pressures of the individuals. The various risk factors
include smoking, obesity, excessive salts in the food, insufficient potassium in the diet and
family history (Iyer et al., 2014). Laverack’s ladder serves as an essential tool for the
assessment of community health and provides strategies to implement health promotion
programs in the community. The growing prevalence of hypertension can be prevented by
implementing suitable health promotion programs and framing these programs by using
appropriate strategies. Three chief strategies to implement a successful health promotion

HYPERTENSION HEALTH PROMOTION2
program for hypertension include policy-making, leadership building and community
development program. This ladder outlines a step-wise framework beginning from
community readiness to community participation, engagement, organization, development,
capacity, action, and finally, community empowerment (Laverack, 2007).
Three of these strategies and their implementations have been describes as follows:
1. Community readiness: The first strategy to implement a suitable health promotion
program addressing hypertension in the community is community readiness. It
involves the preparedness of the community to collaborate with an external agent or
partner towards preventing hypertension by an appropriate program. It implies a
willingness to interact with the people of the community (Kostadinov et al., 2015).
This strategy focuses on working in partnership between the members of the
community and external agents to collaboratively implement suitable programs for the
prevention of hypertension and reduce its symptoms with primary foundations of
mutual respect, transparency in work, effective communication, compatible
experience, and deep trust.
2. Community participation: The second key strategy includes community participation
which involves developing adequate interaction with the people of the community to
target the widespread issues of hypertension faces by the people and take into account
the right ideas and opinions of the experts accordingly. This method is a step to spread
awareness of hypertension to the people of the community and involve them in
activities relevant to their health and influencing their lives. It also builds the
capacities and competencies of the community to help the members make better
lifestyle choices and educate people with a genetic risk factor of hypertension to be
extremely careful. This strategy helps to implement health promotion and educating

HYPERTENSION HEALTH PROMOTION3
people on hypertension-related issues by organizing meetings and forums for these
discussions and communicate information on hypertension.
3. Community engagement: The third key strategy in implementing a health promotion
program for hypertension is community engagement. This strategy aims to involve the
people of the respective community facing the issue of hypertension and consider
their views and suggestions to establish a program that adequately addresses all the
issues and identify any underlying concerns as well. This strategy of community
engagement includes various steps starting with listening and communicating.
Community engagement is the process that begins with informing the members
belonging to the community about the rising trend and ill-effects of hypertension,
followed by explaining the significance to adopt appropriate measures to mitigate the
associated issues of hypertension at an individual’s level. An insufficient
understanding of the strategies to prevent hypertension can be resolved by targeting
knowledge particularly on those factors. For instance, many people lack adequate
knowledge of lifestyle habits such as dietary constituents like salt consumption as
preventable causes of hypertension. A targeted knowledge on the role of modifiable
factors leading to hypertension and suitable action plans to avoid it may be helpful. At
this level of the Laverack’s ladder, the communities are actively involved in the role
of identifying the risk factors of hypertension and engaging themselves in taking
appropriate actions towards decreasing the symptoms and are not just passive
participants in the promotion program.
Capacity-building domains
Liberto et al. (2011) identify nine core domains of capacity for empowerment and ownership
of the community. These domains consist of learning opportunities and development of skills,