Mumbai: In a bid to arrest the growth of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), the World Heart Federation, a global advocacy and leadership organisation, is in process of forming a global coalition to shift focus to the urgency of an action plan to tackle the health menace. CVDs are leading cause of mortality worldwide and in India, and a global network may help drive an action plan forward, feel medical experts.
Last week, an article published in The Lancet journal said more than 75% of CVD deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. “Yet, the huge burden of heart attacks and strokes is not being addressed with the priority required,” it said. While the global target is to achieve a 25% reduction in premature mortality from Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD), this largely depends on reduction of heart attacks and strokes.
The article also says no priority has been given in the implementation of the World Health Organisation’s global action plan, while the national action plan for NCD is driven by politicians and policy makers. It is due to the slow progress overall that the WHF has started work on a global coalition that can bring international partners together and work on prevention and treatment.
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In Mumbai, heart attacks have been the leading cause of death for several years. Data provided by the BMC in 2015 shows that as many as 29,393 people died of heart attack between from March 2014 and March 2015, while 24,603 succumbed to it in 2013-14, which means more than 50 CVD-related deaths per day.
Dr. B.K. Goyal, a cardiologist with Bombay Hospital, said, “India has the fastest rate of increase in heart disease. In the last two decades, we have seen a threefold rise in the number of heart disease patients.” He said longevity of life, bad lifestyle and unhealthy diet, smoking, blood pressure and diabetes are the main risk factors. “These risk factors have been known for a long time, but people still need to act on it.”
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Data released in 2015 by the Registrar General of India showed that CVD is the top killer in India, accounting for 23% of all deaths in 2010-13 — a 3% increase from 20% in 2004-06. Dr. Lekha Pathak, director of cardiology, Nanavati Hospital, said, “We need to act fast. Several initiatives have been taken but the numbers have only multiplied. The strategy for preventing CVD is the same worldwide, but implementation differs from country to country. A global network will definitely help in exchange of ideas and to know what we are doing right, or wrong. It will also help in designing a policy that can be followed worldwide.” Dr Pathak is a former president of the Cardiological Society of India. which is a WHF member.