Unknown to many cardiovascular disease including hypertension, which is the leading cause of death in adults often begins during childhood and tracks through adolescents into adulthood with life-threatening complications such as stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure, and sudden blindness (from severe hypertension). Screening pre-school and school children for congenital or acquired heart diseases and for hypertension as well as risk factors of hypertension especially obesity is an effective strategy for early identification and preventive measures.  Also, developing an appropriate infrastructure to treat cardiovascular diseases and hypertension and to conduct research is critically needed.

Training healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists) on how to accurately measure and interpret blood pressure readings in children and adolescents especially primary and secondary healthcare levels is urgently needed.