Social outreach Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is the number one risk factor for heart and vessel diseases and is linked to 104 million deaths each year. These many deaths are largely avoidable since it is a rather easily treated condition if detected early on. However, early detection might be very difficult because often there are no or only atypical symptoms of high blood pressure. From the age of 18 years on people should get their blood pressure tested every 2-5 years and for people age 40 y and older annual blood pressure check-ups are recommended. This is unfortunately often neglected and at the moment approximately 1.28 billion people worldwide have high blood pressure. Awareness and prevention campaigns might play a big role in detecting high blood pressure in the general population. An example of a prevention campaign is the May Measurement Month, this is the biggest opportunistic screening initiative to date and partakes in over 80 countries. The campaign aims to educate passersby about their blood pressure by measuring the blood pressure and taking cardiovascular health related questionnaires from the participants. In Belgium three to four out of ten people have hypertension and this is rather unacceptable given that hypertension often can be prevented and/or treated with simple lifestyle changes, as no smoking, limit alcohol use, 30 minutes of exercise a day and a varied diet. If these measures are insufficient, medication can be started to treat hypertension. Currently three out of ten Belgians take medication against hypertension. There are many different classes of medication. These medicines have to be taken on a daily basis. Only six out of ten people who are prescribed medication against high blood pressure, actually have controlled blood pressure readings afterwards. The reason for this is that many patients do not take their medication correctly. Therapy compliance is very low with blood pressure medication because patients often do not experience symptoms and therefore do not feel that treatment is needed. Encouraging patients to take their medication daily is a challenge. Doctors should inform their patients sufficiently about their condition and the risks of not taking their medication. After a diagnosis of high blood pressure patients should be followed up regularly by their general practitioner to monitor the evolution of their blood pressure. People with the following risk factors should be extra careful given that their chance of high blood pressure might be higher than that of others: older age, male gender, BMI >25, diabetes, a history of a heart attack or stroke and statin use (against high cholesterol). To further reduce the high number of people with hypertension there is a need for more screening, better compliance and better follow up. It is strongly encouraged to join blood pressure screening campaigns, it takes very little time and is a low effort way to learn more about your heart health and to educate yourself about ways to lower your blood pressure. Value of the thesis After conducting a study and reporting its findings, it is undeniably important to be able to comprehend the value linked to the research, not only academically or medically speaking but also at a social level. In the academic and medical field, reporting the findings of the data collected during the May Measurement Month campaign is of great value to illustrate the current status quo on hypertension in Belgium which somehow reflects the impact of current measures. This status quo can learn whether there is a need for additional efforts and whether current efforts are valuable. The conclusions of this thesis can also influence the evolution of the policy on hypertension. On national level policy makers should reconsider the distribution of funding for cardiovascular health with a better balance of curative and preventive health care. The biggest value of this thesis on a social level lays in raising awareness about hypertension. This thesis raises awareness of the importance of heart health within the population, by mapping the number of people at risk of suffering preventable cardiovascular events. It also shows the public how important therapy compliance is and how big the impact can be of making simple lifestyle changes. Even though based on an opportunistic screening campaign, the value of this dissertation is not solely located in terms of awareness but can be of importance on many different levels.