World Heart Day, it is an annual event held on September 29th to raise awareness about heart disease and promote healthy heart habits. The WHO South-East Asia Region is home to a quarter of the world’s population. The region is experiencing a very high burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are responsible for 3.9 million annual deaths, making up 30% of all deaths. Alarmingly, almost half (48%) of these CVD-related deaths occurred prematurely, affecting individuals aged 30 to 70 years and imposing significant socioeconomic burdens on families, communities, and countries.
Main causes to the burden of CVD include modifiable lifestyle factors such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets especially high salt intake, and lack of physical activity. Raised blood pressure and raised blood glucose levels are key drivers and they can be detected, diagnosed, and managed adequately in primary care. One in four adults in the region has raised blood pressure, while one in ten has diabetes, and less than 15% are on effective treatment coverage. Additionally, high levels of lipids in the blood and suboptimal management of acute cardiovascular events further worsen CVD mortality.
In response to this significant public health importance, NCDs has been identified as a Regional Flagship priority since 2014. In 2022, the region has adopted the ‘Implementation Roadmap for accelerating the prevention and control of NCD in South-East Asia 2022–2030.’ The SEAHEARTS initiative of the region, brings together measures to reduce risk factors (tobacco control, salt reduction, and trans-fatty acids) with improvements in hypertension and diabetes coverage and control in primary health care. SEAHEARTS resonates with the World Heart Day 2023 theme ‘Use Heart, Know Heart’ and offers countries a roadmap to scale up their current situations and align their actions within the broader NCD prevention and control efforts. (adapted from WHO Site)
