WORLD HEART FEDERATION CALLS FOR SIGNIFICANT STEPS FORWARD TO BE TAKEN BY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST HEART DISEASE IN WOMEN
WORLD HEART FEDERATION CALLS FOR SIGNIFICANT STEPS FORWARD TO BE TAKEN BY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST HEART DISEASE IN WOMEN
Geneva, 19th February 2007 – The World Heart Federation strongly supports the publication by the American Heart Association of new evidence-based guidelines for the long-term prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women. Today, the World Heart Federation is calling for Governments and international aid agencies to make research and programme funding available so that this significant work can be taken further to address the special needs of women in developing countries.
Worldwide, CVD is the largest single cause of death among women, accounting for one third of all deaths. Eighty per cent of these occur in developing countries. In China, with a population of approximately 1.3 billion, the age-standardised prevalence rates of CVD risk factors dyslipidemia and hypertension in women 35-74 years of age are 53 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively. “This shows the enormity of CVD as a global health issue and the urgent need for more effective programmes in developing countries,” said Professor Sidney Smith, MD, co-author of the AHA 2007 Guidelines for Preventing Cardiovascular Disease in Women and chairman of the World Heart Federation’s Scientific Advisory Board.
The new guidelines look at the long-term prevention of CVD in women and also focus on lifestyle factors such as physical activity, nutrition and smoking cessation, new directions for using aspirin, hormone therapy and vitamin and mineral supplements in CVD prevention, as well as more in-depth recommendations on drug treatments for blood pressure and cholesterol control.
“Although the causes of CVD are common to all parts of the world, the approaches to its prevention at the societal or individual level differs among countries for cultural, social, medical and economic reasons,” said Professor Smith. The World Heart Federation is addressing the most serious health threat to women through a variety of scientific, advocacy and awareness building programmes including the Go Red for Women campaign.
The prevention of CVD is paramount to the health of every woman in every nation. Even modest control could have an enormous impact. It is projected that a reduction in the death rate due to chronic diseases by just over two per cent over a decade would prevent 36 million deaths.
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2007 Guidelines for Preventing Cardiovascular Disease in Women and the latest scientific research will be published in a special women’s themed-issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, March 13, 2007. Visit www.americanheart.org
About the World Heart Federation
The World Heart Federation is a nongovernmental organisation based in Geneva Switzerland dedicated to the prevention and control of heart disease and stroke, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. It is comprised of 195 member societies of cardiology and heart foundations from over 100 countries covering the regions of Asia-Pacific, Europe, East Mediterranean, the Americas and Africa. For further information visit: www.worldheart.org
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