Alice Grainger Gasser, Programme Development Manager, World Heart Federation called for strengthening implementation of the FCTC to curb tobacco use, which is a major risk factor for many diseases, including CVD.
"CVDs are a huge barrier to human and economic development. Yet, in the past CVD has been neglected by the development agenda. We cannot reduce NCDs without substantially reducing CVD. A specific target in SDGs is to reduce by 33% premature NCD mortality by 2030. The NCD targets and SDGs offer an unprecedented opportunity mandate for countries to tackle CVD", she said.
On 22nd September, 2016, on the margins of the UN General Assembly, the WHO and CDC (US Centres for Disease Control), along with other partners, launched 'The Global Hearts', a new initiative to scale up prevention and control of CVD, especially in developing countries. The initiative will initially be rolled out in 12 countries (Barbados, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Jordan, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Tajikistan, Thailand and Uganda) to help them implement its 3 technical packages:
(i) HEARTS (CVD management at the primary health care level to reduce cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol)
(ii) SHAKE (reduce salt intake in populations); and raise commitment to implement the
(iii) MPOWER (use the 6 powerful tobacco control measures to help implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control)
WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan said that this initiative can save millions of lives through ramping up proven measures to prevent CVDs in communities and countries, including tobacco taxation, reducing salt in food, detecting and treating people at high risk and strengthening primary health care level services.
Let us all take our heart seriously and fuel it properly to drive our life, instead of burning it out. The heart is at the heart of our health and needs the care it deserves.
Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
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