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Undiagnosed and uncontrolled hypertension remains one of the most important preventable causes of heart attack, stroke, chronic kidney disease, and dementia. In 2024, an estimated 1·4 billion people aged 30–79 years were living with hypertension worldwide, yet fewer than one in five had the condition adequately controlled.1,2 The economic toll is severe and increasing with demographic changes, with cardiovascular diseases projected to cost low-income and middle-income countries US$3·7 trillion between 2011 and 2025—around 2% of the gross domestic product of these countries.
