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Abstract The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) is a multi‐partner initiative, implementing and scaling up a public health hypertension control program across India. A cohort of 21,895 adult hypertension patients in 24 IHCI sentinel site facilities in four Indian states (Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Telangana), registered from January 2018 until June 2019 were assessed at baseline and then followed up for blood pressure (BP) control and antihypertensive medication use. Among all registrations, 11 274 (51%) of the patients returned for a follow‐up visit between July 2019 and September 2019. Among patients returning for follow‐up, 26.3% had BP controlled at registration, and 59.8% had BP controlled at follow‐up (p

Abstract Background The sale of aerated or sugar-sweetened beverages (ASBs) has been consistently growing in India which has also experienced a major increase in non-communicable diseases. This study estimates the price elasticities of ASBs by different household-income groups in India and examine the trends in their affordability. Methods The price elasticity for ASBs were estimated using a nationally representative household sample survey on consumption of ASBs in India and with Deaton’s method which is robust to self-reported household expenditure surveys. Trends in affordability of ASBs were estimated using relative income price (RIP) which measured the proportion of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) required to purchase 100 L of ASBs in a given year. The elasticity parameters were used to estimate the incremental tax needed for a 10% reduction in ASB consumption. Results The own-price elasticity of ASBs is − 0.94 in the overall sample and varied between − 1.04 to − 0.83 from low- to high-income households. There has been an annual average decline of about 6.8% in RIP of ASBs or an increase in their affordability over the last 13 years. Increasing the compensation cess on ASBs under the current Goods and Services Tax (GST) to 29%, will have the effect of decreasing ASB consumption by 10% and increasing the tax revenue by about 27%. Conclusion The taxation policy on ASBs in India has largely been ineffective at increasing the real retail prices of ASBs as a result of which ASB consumption grew. ASBs should be classified along with other unhealthy products like tobacco and alcohol as demerit products for the purpose of taxation and their taxes should be regularly increased sufficiently enough to compensates for both general price inflation and income growth so as to decreases their affordability.

Background: Hypertension is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease in India, but less than 10% of the estimated people with hypertension have blood pressure under control. The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) was implemented to strengthen hypertension management and control in public sector health facilities. Since late March 2020, lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic limited healthcare access and disrupted the provision of essential health services. IHCI quickly implemented adaptive interventions to improve access to medications. Objectives: To estimate the availability of antihypertensive drugs in peripheral public sector facilities during the lockdown and the proportion of patients who received drugs through community drug distribution, i.e., through Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs)/Sub-Centers (SCs), the most peripheral public sector health facilities for primary care, and home delivery. Methods: We collected data from 29 IHCI districts of 5 states (Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Telangana) during April–May 2020. The population included individuals diagnosed with hypertension and enrolled under IHCI in all public sector primary care health facilities. We contacted a convenience sample of more than one-third of the functional HWC/SC and analyzed the proportion of facilities and patients who received drugs. We also contacted a convenience sample of patients telephonically to estimate their self-reported availability of drugs. Conclusion: Of the 4245 HWC/SC, more than one-third were contacted telephonically, and 85–88% had received antihypertensive medications for community-level distribution. Among 721,675 patients registered until March 2020, 38.4% had received drug refills through HWC/SC or home delivery by frontline workers during the lockdown. We demonstrated the feasibility of community-level drug distribution for patients with hypertension during the COVID-19 lockdown in India. The adaptive strategy of community-based drug distribution through HWC/SC and home delivery appears feasible and may help improve access to hypertension care during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.