Hypertension and dyslipidemia: raising awareness and strengthening adherence with #BecauseISaySo
After raising awareness of the importance of measuring blood pressure in May, it’s time for the second act in September! Servier is launching a new edition of the “#BecauseISaySo” prevention campaign in over 40 countries. The TakeYourMedicine component focuses attention on the need to take blood pressure medication and, for the first time, cholesterol medication.
It is important to follow your doctor’s advice and recommendations to the letter. And yet, many patients treated for high blood pressure and high cholesterol stop taking or forget to take their medications on a daily basis several months after they are prescribed. Furthermore, dyslipidemia, or high cholesterol, is a common comorbidity that often affects these patients.
Did you know?
More than 50% of people with hypertension have high cholesterol(1). Nearly half of people with hypertension and dyslipidemia do not adhere to their treatment or stop taking it after just one year.(2).
What can be done to prevent the risk of cardiovascular events?
Poor adherence to blood pressure-lowering or dyslipidemia medication can have serious consequences. As a result, cardiovascular risks such as heart attack, stroke and ischemic heart disease, as well as complications (heart failure, kidney damage, dementia, vision impairment, etc.) increase.
Did you know?
With 1.2 billion people suffering from hypertension worldwide, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death. Nearly 9.4 million people die from the effects of hypertension each year(3).
The good news is that blood pressure and cholesterol levels can be controlled by strictly following your doctor’s prescription. This is the best way to control these conditions in the long term and protect yourself from cardiovascular events.
Adherence, a key battleground for Servier
The third largest pharmaceutical group in the world in cardiology(4) and historically committed to the fight against hypertension, Servier is launching the “#TakeYourMedicine” awareness campaign to increase patient adherence to their treatments.
Once again, this campaign was created with and for patients. It focuses on the “missing part”, ie not following the doctor’s advice, stopping treatment prematurely or not following it to the letter.
“#TakeYourMedicine” offers advice in the form of cartoons to help patients remember to take their medicine every day. These motivational tidbits are inspired by the daily lives of patients and their loved ones. For example, putting a reminder on the fridge, setting an alarm on the mobile phone, associating taking medicine with an event that happens every day (coffee break, lunch, walking the dog, etc.). The goal is to follow your doctor’s recommendations to a tee!
“After the tremendous success of the first two social media campaigns in 2020 and 2021, which reached millions of people, in 2022 we decided to repeat #SepseISaySo, and #TakeYourMedicine to inform the public about the serious consequences of non-compliance and this work with the Patients’ Association for the optimization of communication with the public. If a patient does not follow the treatment properly, it means that he is not fully protected,” explains David Pédelabat-Lartigau, Director of the Hypertension Portfolio at Servier at Servier. Efforts to raise awareness are even more important today, as many patients became discouraged during the pandemic.
The #BecauseISaySo #TakeYourMedicine campaign is broadcast in several languages on Servier’s social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube).
Working with patients to improve adherence
Servier’s teams are committed to working with patients and healthcare professionals on a daily basis to prevent aggravating risk factors for disease and improve treatment adherence. One of the most meaningful examples is #SepseISaySo, co-constructed with patients around the world.
“At Servier, we are committed to working with patients and HCPs to improve adherence. It is the key to generating better care, better therapeutic effectiveness, better outcomes and fewer complications. The “#BecauseISaySo #Takeyourmedicine” campaign is a very good example of our long-term commitment to patients suffering from chronic diseases”, says Bertrand Renaud, Chief Patient Officer of the Servier Group.
To learn more about Servier’s commitment to promoting treatment adherence
Understand Hypertension
(1) Chowdhury R et al. Eur Heart J. 2013;34(38):2940-2948.
(2) Cowie MR. Concomitant treatment of hypertension and dyslipidemia may help reduce overall cardiovascular risk. Int J Clin Pract. 2005; 59: 839-846.
(3) Source: World Health Organization (WHO). https://www.who.int/news/item/09-12-2020-who-reveals-leading-causes-of-death-and-disability-worldwide-2000-2019
(4) IQVIA, Analytics Link / World 74 countries – MAT Q1-2022
