[Editorial] The India hypertension control initiative (IHCI) – Need and its important discovery

In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, communicable diseases have become the focus of every nation yet the concern for non-communicable diseases(NCDs) cannot be overlooked. It has been noticed during the crisis that those who were suffering from comorbidities were the worst sufferers. The comorbidities were none other than non-communicable diseases(NCDs) that made people more vulnerable to the pandemic. A modeling study published in The Lancet Global Health suggests that, worldwide, one in five people are at an increased risk of severe COVID-19 if they become infected, mostly as a result of underlying NCDs. Several countries saw disruptions in providing regular healthcare services to the patients suffering from NCDs due to the focus on COVID-19 and because the economic state of the countries was in shock. The pandemic showed the extent of the burden that NCDs pose on health resources. In such a situation, the pandemic has again brought back the focus on NCDs that need to be tackled efficiently to tackle any further risk to people’s health all over the world.