Grenada Heart Project

Shifting from communicable to chronic disease

Grenada lies at the southern end of the Windward Islands and is a tri-island state: the islands of Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique. With the increasing economic development, its health problems have changed dramatically and chronic diseases have replaced infectious disease as the primary health concern. Unfortunately, health initiatives dealing with chronic disease have not yet followed suit, either in Grenada or elsewhere in the Caribbean. Although data on cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality are not readily available, physicians in Grenada report that hypertension and diabetes are common.

Over the years, careful monitoring of the Framingham study population has led to the identification of the major cardiovascular disease risk factors -- high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, smoking, obesity, diabetes, and physical inactivity -- as well as a great deal of valuable information on the effects of related factors such as blood triglyceride and HDL cholesterol levels, age, gender, and psychosocial issues. Although the Framingham study was highly effective in identifying these major risk factors in white American men and women, very few minorities were included in the study. Using the knowledge gained from the Framingham study, there is a unique opportunity to develop a population-based risk factor assessment in Grenada that would produce the data necessary to design prevention programmes for Grenadians.

Helping communities lower cardiovascular risk

In 2005 the World Heart Federation began a five-year research project on cardiovascular risk in Grenada. Its aim is to develop and implement effective strategies for preventing cardiovascular disease there.

The project uses the World Health Organization STEPwise approach to surveillance of CVD risk factors. It gathers data on Grenadian adults through screening of blood pressure, blood, weight and body mass index. Through its findings, the project aims to help communities tailor prevention programmes to their needs, and to help the Ministry of Health to find sustainable measures of secondary prevention that can be integrated into its services.