A national campaign on ‘High Blood Pressure Control’ in Iran: A rapid evaluation

Iranian Ministry of Health launched a national campaign to control high blood pressure among adult population in Iran. The campaign was consisted of two phases: raising awareness and filed action. This study was aimed to perform a rapid evaluation of the first phase of the campaign. The campaign was started from 17 May to 8 July 2019.

A cross sectional population study was conducted during the first phase of the campaign in order to find out the extent to which the campaign was successful in reaching the intended target population. A random sample of Iranian adults aged 18 and above were entered into the study and interviewed via telephone survey using a self-designed questionnaire including demographic information and items related to the campaign.

In total a sample of 1526 Iranian adults were recruited and interviewed. The mean age of participants was 38.04 (SD = 12.9) years. Overall the findings showed that only 24.6% of participants (n = 376) heard about the campaign. Of these, only 167 individuals knew about the aim. However, performing logistic regression analysis the findings showed that higher age, being single, less education, and having a family without high blood pressure history were associated with lack of knowledge about the campaign while gender and living area (Urban vs. rural) were not.

The study findings suggest that to promote such campaigns there is need to develop appropriate strategies including formative and process evaluations at earlier stage of the campaign.