The Voice (Francistown)
18 March 2008
Francistown — The community outreach arm of the Cardiac Clinic, the Heart Foundation of Botswana, was finally launched to an inspired audience in Gaborone last week.
Prof. Kiran Bhagat launched the foundation, educating participants about the serious dangers associated with heart disease, He observed the need for a Foundation saying it was critical to ensure greater awareness. He said that this was the second Foundation of its kind in Southern Africa and that Botswana should be proud.
Lindsey Jones, the Co-coordinator of the Foundation, then did a presentation on the objectives thereof, which primarily focused on research on heart disease in Botswana, and education, which includes the ever-popular Heart Art Competition.
Jones said that currently no statistics existed in Botswana on the disease that is the world's number one killer and, therefore, Botswana has no idea how serious the disease that's affecting the nation and its economy is. But internationally, the prognosis is not encouraging. Jones pointed out that in 2006, the cost of heart disease in the US alone was $258 billion in loss of productivity, health care services and medication and thus, from an economic perspective, companies and government need to understand the overall effects it has, when holistic wellness is not managed in the workplace.
Dr. Caroline Akim, from the World Health Organisation, gave some startling statistics on heart disease to back the importance of having the Heart Foundation of Botswana, and that this would compliment the newly formed Ministry of Health's Department of Non-Communicable Diseases.
Some facts on heart disease worldwide, according to Akim were that:
Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death globally: more people die annually from CVDs than from any other cause
An estimated 17.5 million people died from CVDs in 2005, representing 30% of all global deaths. Of these deaths, an estimated 7.6 million were due to coronary heart disease and 5.7 million were due to stroke.
By 2020, heart disease and stroke will become the leading cause of both death and disability worldwide, with the number of fatalities projected to increase to over 20 million a year and by 2030 to over 24 million a year
The old stereotype of cardiovascular diseases affecting only stressed, overweight middle-aged men in developed countries no longer applies. Today, men, women and children are at risk and 80% of the burden is in low and middle-income countries. Heart disease and stroke not only take lives, but also cause an enormous economic burden
Over 80% of CVD deaths take place in low and middle-income countries and occur almost equally in men and women
By 2015, almost 20 million people will die from CVDs, mainly from heart disease and stroke. These are projected to become the leading cause of both death and disability
Obesity, poor diets, smoking and physical inactivity, the leading causes of heart disease and stroke, are now being seen at an alarmingly early age
Africa is in "epidemiological transition," due to a move by many people from a rural to an urban lifestyle, bringing with it "advances of civilization". Hypertension in Africa is a widespread problem of immense economic importance because of its high prevalence in urban areas; it's frequent under diagnosis, and the severity of its complications. For example, the INTERHEART Africa study has shown that hypertension is the strongest risk factor for myocardial infarction (MI) in black Africans, with an odds ratio of 6.99 compared with 2.3-3.9 in other ethnic groups. The latest estimate of the World Health Organization (WHO) is that more than 30 million people in Africa have hypertension. WHO predicts that if nothing is done about it, by 2020 three quarters of all deaths in Africa will be attributable to hypertension. The African Union has called hypertension "one of the continent's greatest health challenges after AIDS."
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