Watch 'Check In & Check Up' on World Hypertension Day

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a global menace — and a hidden one. More than a billion adults worldwide are estimated to have high blood pressure, a leading cause of heart disease and stroke. But fewer than half of them know they have it or are being treated.

The World Health Organization singles out the pervasive health condition by designating May 17 as World Hypertension Day.

On Tuesday at 6 p.m. Central, media personality Sybil Wilkes will bring the problem closer to home with her guest, actress and comedian Sherri Shepherd. Check In & Check Up for Your Health will focus on how local communities are addressing hypertension with help from the American Heart Association and the National Hypertension Control Initiative, or NHCI.

The web show can be streamed live on Wilkes' Facebook and YouTube pages.

The AHA launched the NHCI with federal funding in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative is a science-based, community-driven effort to improve blood pressure control among under-resourced populations, including people of underrepresented races and ethnicities. The NHCI encourages blood pressure control and wider access to self-measuring tools.