World Hypertension League (WHL)
The WHL is a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to the prevention and control of hypertension globally. WHL membership is currently comprised of 80 national hypertension societies who are members of our Council and led by the WHL Executive, Board, Council, and Committees. The WHL is a global organization with regional offices in North and South America, China, South East Asia, Sub Saharan Africa, the South Pacific, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The WHL is in official relations with the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The official journal of the WHL is The Journal of Human Hypertension (JHH).
World Hypertension League Overview
Our Leadership
Executive
Prof. Gianfranco Parati, MDPresident
Honorary Professor of Cardiovasc. Medicine, Univ. of Milano-Bicocca;
Scientific Director; Head, Dept. of Cardiology, S. Luca Hospital, IRCCS, Milano, Italy
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
Scientific Director; Head, Dept. of Cardiology, S. Luca Hospital, IRCCS, Milano, Italy
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
Prof. Marcus Schlaich, MDPresident-Elect
Nephrologist; Hypertension Specialist; Dobney Chair in Clinical Research, Dobney Hypertension Centre; Perth, Western Australia
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
Prof. Paul K. Whelton, MD, MD, MScPast President
Show Chwan Professor of Global Public Health; Tulane Univ. Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
Dr. S.N. Narasingan, MDVice President
President, Indian Society of Hypertension;
Managing Director, SNN Specialties Clinic;
Chennai, India
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
Prof. Bader Almustafa, MDSecretary General
Clinical Hypertension Specialist; The Saudi Hypertension Management Society; Qatif, Saudi Arabia
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2029
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2029
Prof. Michael A. Weber, MDTreasurer
Professor of Medicine; Div. of Cardiovascular Medicine State Univ. of NY; Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
2025 - 2028
Board of Directors
Prof. Flavio Danni Fuchs, MD, PhDBoard Member
Full Professor of Cardiology, FAMED-UFRGS, Researcher IA, CNPq, Brazil
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2027
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2027
Prof. Leilani B. Mercado-Asis, MDBoard Member
Imm. Past Pres. Philippine Society of Hypertension;
Program Director, UST Master in Public Health;
University of Leeds; Philippines
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2028
Dr. Albertino Damasceno, MD, PhDBoard Member
Professor (full) at Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2027
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2027
Dr. Xiaowei Yan, MDBoard Member
China
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2027
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2027
Prof. Bert-Jan Van den Born, MD, PhDBoard Member
Internist-Vascular Medicine Specialist, Professor of Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, Netherlands
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2027
Terms of Service:
2025 - 2027
Ex-Officio and Special Advisors
Renu Garg, MD, MPHEx-Officio Board Member
Resolve to Save Lives
Senior Vice President, Cardiovascular Health
USA
Senior Vice President, Cardiovascular Health
USA
Dr. Liu Lisheng, MDSpecial Advisor
Director, Clinical Trial Research Center
Beijing Hypertension League Institute
Professor of Medicine, Fu Wai Hospital, CAMS
Vice Director, NCCD, China
WHL Past President
Professor of Medicine, Fu Wai Hospital, CAMS
Vice Director, NCCD, China
WHL Past President
Prof. Norman R.C. Campbell, CM MDSpecial Advisor
Depts of Medicine, Community Health Sciences, Physiology and Pharmacology
University of Calgary
Alberta, Canada
WHL Past President
University of Calgary
Alberta, Canada
WHL Past President
Prof. Daniel T. Lackland, DrPHSpecial Advisor
Professor of Epidemiology, Director, Division of Translational Neurosciences and Population Studies, Department of Neurology,
Medical University of South Carolina,
United States
WHL Past President & Newsletter Editor-in-Chief
Medical University of South Carolina,
United States
WHL Past President & Newsletter Editor-in-Chief
Mary TrifaultWHL Senior Administrator
Newsletter Associate Editor
New York, NY USA
New York, NY USA
Special Ambassadors
Dagnovar Aristizabal, MD
Founder and Scientific Director,
SICOR
Colombia
SICOR
Colombia
Kei Asayama, MD, PhD
Professor of Health Data Science,
Teikyo University
Tokyo, Japan
Teikyo University
Tokyo, Japan
Claudio Borghi, MD
Professor of Medicine,
Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences
University of Bologna
Italy
Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences
University of Bologna
Italy
Anping Cai, MD
Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital
Guangzhou, China
Guangzhou, China
Taskeen Khan, MD
Global Public Health Specialist,
Director of Research and Policy at the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH),
Qatar Foundation
Director of Research and Policy at the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH),
Qatar Foundation
Kara Nerenberg, MD, MSc, FRCPC
Women’s Heart and Brain Health
Mid-Career Research Chair (Heart and Stroke & CIHR)
Associate Professor,
University of Calgary, Canada
Mid-Career Research Chair (Heart and Stroke & CIHR)
Associate Professor,
University of Calgary, Canada
Martino Pengo MD, PhD
University of Milan-Bicocca IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano - Dept of Cardiovascular, Neural and Metabolic Sciences
Ospedale San Luca, Milan, Italy
Ospedale San Luca, Milan, Italy
Yuqing Zhang, MD
Department of Cardiology, Fu Wai Hospital
Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College
Beijing, China
Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College
Beijing, China
Regional Offices
Africa Regional Office
RO Director: Dr. Albertino Damasceno
Asia Regional Office
RO Director: Dr. Narsingh Verma
Central America and the Caribbean Regional Office
RO Director: Dr. Fernando Wyss
China Regional Office
RO Director: Dr. Xin-Hua Zhang
Eastern Europe Regional Office
RO Director: Dr. Krasimira Hristova
Mid East Regional Office
RO Director: Dr. Bader Almustafa
North America Regional Office
RO Director: Dr. Daniel Lackland
South America Regional Office
RO Director: Dr. Mario Fritsch Neves
South Pacific Regional Office
RO Director: Dr. Markus Schlaich
Western Europe Regional Office
RO Co-Director: Dr. Gianfranco Parati
RO Co-Director: Dr. Martino Pengo
Outreach
The WHL’s premier outreach event is World Hypertension Day held annually on May 17th, in conjunction with May Measurement Month. This year’s theme is Measure Your Blood Pressure Accurately, Control It, Live Longer focusing on combatting low awareness rates worldwide, especially in low to middle income areas, and accurate blood pressure measurement methods. Some new resources include free online courses on accurate automated and home blood pressure measurement, and guidelines for checking accuracy of BP monitors in 16 languages. The Children’s Art Competition and the announcement of the annual WHL Excellence Awards are also held in conjunction with World Hypertension Day. Additionally, the WHL publishes a free quarterly newsletter which includes advances in high blood pressure treatment, descriptions of the activities of the member organizations, a calendar that lists major upcoming meetings on cardiovascular-related topics throughout the world, member success stories for knowledge translation and updates on new hypertension resources, reports, and publications. Recent highlights include the Sao Paulo Call to Action for the Prevention & Control of High Blood Pressure in 2019 and the Call to Action to Control Hypertension in Africa in 2021. A bi-annual conference is held in conjunction with a national hypertension society conference, which is open to members and non-members alike.
Mission & Mandate
Hypertension is a driving force in the global epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and is the leading risk factor for death and disability globally. Global statistics indicate that less than half of adults with hypertension (SBP ≥140 mm Hg, DBP≥0 mm Hg, or treatment with antihypertensive medication), worldwide, are aware that they have high BP (<40% in low- and middle-income countries) and that fewer than 20% are controlled.
The burden of hypertension is greatest where resources are the lowest, with developing countries disproportionately impacted by hypertension. The World Economic Forum describes NCDs as the greatest threat to economic development, predicting a cumulative loss in global economic output of $47 trillion USD, or 5% of gross domestic product, by 2030. The importance of the WHL mission is emphasized by the United Nations (UN) Global Health Summit on NCDs which agreed to nine health targets to be achieved by 2025. The UN health targets include a 25% reduction in uncontrolled hypertension and a 30% reduction in dietary salt. To help reduce this burden, the WHL is currently focused on the:
The burden of hypertension is greatest where resources are the lowest, with developing countries disproportionately impacted by hypertension. The World Economic Forum describes NCDs as the greatest threat to economic development, predicting a cumulative loss in global economic output of $47 trillion USD, or 5% of gross domestic product, by 2030. The importance of the WHL mission is emphasized by the United Nations (UN) Global Health Summit on NCDs which agreed to nine health targets to be achieved by 2025. The UN health targets include a 25% reduction in uncontrolled hypertension and a 30% reduction in dietary salt. To help reduce this burden, the WHL is currently focused on the:
- development of international and national partnerships,
- use of strategic approaches to hypertension prevention and control,
- enhancement of healthy environments through healthy public policy and especially through reduction in dietary salt,
- information exchanges and knowledge translation,
- utilization of evidence-based resources (e.g. Global Burden of Disease Study) to promote health and hypertension control,
- promotion of high quality monitoring of population blood pressure levels, hypertension prevalence, diagnosis, treatment and control, and
- providing resources that may be adopted particularly in vulnerable populations.
Vision &
Core Values
The WHL is committed to optimizing and advancing prevention and control of hypertension through collaborative work with member organizations, like-minded governmental and non-governmental partner organizations, and Best Practices. We are committed to helping member organizations and their populations achieve 25-80% hypertension control.
Through its various programs, the WHL seeks to assist a wide variety of organizations, individuals, health care providers, and communities throughout the world. The quality of the services provided is defined by adherence to our mission in terms of the following core values: Forward Thinking, Philanthropy, Passion, Transparency (Integrity), Knowledge Translation and Sharing, and Open Communication.
Through its various programs, the WHL seeks to assist a wide variety of organizations, individuals, health care providers, and communities throughout the world. The quality of the services provided is defined by adherence to our mission in terms of the following core values: Forward Thinking, Philanthropy, Passion, Transparency (Integrity), Knowledge Translation and Sharing, and Open Communication.
- Forward Thinking: We feel that the solutions to hypertension control and prevention lie in looking forward and don’t want to be constrained by what has already been done.
- Transparency (Integrity): We exhibit transparency and integrity in our operations so that our members and others know that they can trust us and that we are accountable for our actions.
- Knowledge Translation and Sharing: We facilitate the sharing of knowledge in areas related to hypertension so that our members and others can easier access and use this information in their work. We also are continually creating resources to add to the existing pool and give our members and others more information to further their individual missions.
- Philanthropy: Our work is driven by our desire to help our members and the communities we serve
- Passion: Our passion is a sign of our organization’s compelling enthusiasm for our work on preventing and controlling hypertension at the population level
- Open Communication: We encourage open communication within our organization, with members and with partner organizations it helps stimulate the free-flow of ideas, which we feel is important in working with issues such as Non-communicable Diseases.
