A pregnant woman is lying on a bed and a health worker is taking her blood pressure. The worker says that the blood pressure is too high and she thinks that they should go to the hospital.

A major purpose of your antenatal care service is to make pregnant women aware of the danger symptoms of hypertensive disorders, to check their blood pressure at every antenatal visit (you learned how to do this in Study Session 9), and to make a timely diagnosis of hypertension and refer affected women as early as possible.

In this study session you will learn about the changes in the woman's body as a result of hypertension and how this affects the mother and the fetus, the classifications of hypertension, the common risk factors for developing it, how to diagnose the different types and what actions to take in order to prevent worsening complications and even death.