Hypertension Control in Populations

In a masterly review of major developments and trends in health care in the twentieth century Milton Roemer quotes 16 points, including health manpower growth, specialization, organization for team work, population control, geriatrics and rehabilitation, health care planning, medical humanization, internationalism in health and health as a human right1. To this World Perspective on Health Care in the Twentieth Century one more important point should be added: the development of the concept of community control of disease. According to this concept, disease control rests on a defined community as a socio-biological entity. All its strata and components are taken into account and the community itself is being used to control and combat its own disease or diseases. There is an important difference between this participatory concept of community disease control and the earlier, classical public health approaches to disease prevention such as the draining of swamps as part of malaria prevention, or the provision of safe community water supply, or vaccination. In the classical situation, the community is rather the scene on which a medical or public health action is taking place. On the contrary, the community disease control programme of our days is like a happening in which all those present are required to participate.