Developing an operational research model for strengthening policy and programs on prevention and control of hypertension in India

Hypertension is one of the significant risk factors for many noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes, stroke and chronic artery diseases. Despite the dismal scenario of CVDs in India, there is paucity of research in the field, which hampers effective decision making. In cognizance of the crucial role played by operational research (OR) in NCD policy design and program implementation, the Resource Center of Cardiovasuclar Health issued an open call for a manuscript writing program on hypertension using secondary data of National Family Health Survey-4. After thorough screening of the concept proposals of the applicants, 30 researchers were selected. Each of the 30 selected researchers further formed team of 3–7 researchers per team, thus having almost 150 + researchers on the board. Besides receiving the short workshops for the finalization of research question and manuscript writing, each team of researchers was assigned an OR mentor for guidance, review and finalization of the manuscript. There were two levels of peer review for each manuscript. In this first-of-its-operational research (OR) model on hypertension, we built the capacity of young researchers from various medical and research institutes of country in OR related to hypertension in India. The models’ success is proved by its cost-effective approach and development of 30 high-quality research articles on hypertension. While we faced challenges in the process, several lessons were learned which will be instrumental in the future planning and implementation of such OR programs for other public health issues.