Participatory community health practices originally developed in East Baltimore, MD by JHUSON Dean and researcher Martha N. Hill, Phd, RN are now being used by another Hopkins nurse researcher, Cheryl Dennison, PhD, CRNP to address and reduce hypertension (HBP) among South African populations.
Hill and Dennison recently found in a study of 220 women and 183 men who received public or private primary care services in three South African townships near Cape Town, that the majority of the study participants had uncontrolled blood pressure?despite making regular visits to primary health care facilities for treatment and receiving HBP medications. Dennison notes ?The data reinforces our view that hypertension must be approached at the policy, care setting, provider, and patient levels. We must consider a wider array of techniques and approaches in addition to medications, including significant policy-level changes that support care that actually improves blood pressure control and reduces cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.”