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Objective: In Africa, the number of patients with hypertension is expected to reach 216.8 million by 2030. Large-scale data on antihypertensive medications used in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are scarce.Here, we describe antihypertensive drug strategies and identify treatment factors associated with blood pressure (BP) control in 12 Sub-Saharan countries., Setting: Outpatient consultations for hypertension in urban tertiary cardiology centres of 29 hospitals from 17 cities across 12 SSA countries between January 2014 and November 2015., Participants: Patients ≥18 years of age with hypertension were enrolled at any visit during outpatient consultations in the cardiology departments MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: We collected BP levels, demographic characteristics and antihypertensive treatment use (including traditional medicine) of patients with hypertension attending outpatient visits. BP control was defined as seated office BP <140/90 mm Hg. We used logistic regression with a random effect on countries to assess factors of BP control., Results: Overall, 2198 hypertensive patients were included and a total of 96.6% (n=2123) were on antihypertensive medications. Among treated patients, 653 (30.8%) patients received a monotherapy by calcium channel blocker (n=324, 49.6%), renin-angiotensin system blocker (RAS) (n=126, 19.3%) or diuretic (n=122, 18.7%). Two-drug strategies were prescribed in 927 (43.6%) patients including mainly diuretics and RAS (n=327, 42% of two-drug strategies). Prescriptions of three-drugs or more were used in 543 (25.6%) patients. Overall, among treated patients, 1630 (76.7%) had uncontrolled BP, of whom 462 (28.3%) had BP levels ≥180/110 mm Hg, mainly in those on monotherapy. After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, the use of traditional medicine was the only factor significantly associated with uncontrolled BP (OR 1.72 (1.19 to 2.49) p<0.01)., Conclusion: Our study provided large-scale data on antihypertensive prescriptions in the African continent. Among patients declared adherent to drugs, poor BP control was significantly associated with the use of traditional medicine., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

The fourth Pan-African Society of Cardiology (PASCAR) hypertension taskforce meeting was held at the Yaoundé Hilton Hotel on 16 March 2016. Its main goals were to update and facilitate understanding of the PASCAR roadmap for the control of hypertension on the continent, to refine the PASCAR hypertension algorithm, and to discuss the next steps of the PASCAR hypertension policy, including how the PASCAR initiative can be customised at country level. The formation of the PASCAR coalition against hypertension, the writing group and the current status of the PASCAR hypertension policy document as well as the algorithm were presented to delegates representing 12 French-speaking countries. The urgency to finalise the continental policy was recognised and consensus was achieved by discussion on the main points and strategy. Relevant scientific issues were discussed and comments were received on all points, including how the algorithm could be simplified and made more accessible for implementation at primary healthcare centres.