September 29 – World Heart Day

World Heart Day is a global health campaign. Its main task is to raise awareness about diseases of the cardiovascular system, their causes and ways to prevent them

Cardiovascular diseases is the world's leading cause of death, claiming 17,9 million lives a year, according to estimates. Cardiovascular diseases are a group of heart and blood vessel diseases, which include coronary heart disease, cerebral vessels diseases, rheumatic heart disease and other pathologies. More than four out of five deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases occur as a result of heart attack and brain stroke, and one third of these cases lead to premature death among people under 70.

The most significant behavioral risk factors of heart diseases and brain stroke are unhealthy food, low level of physical activity and abuse of alcohol. Consequences of behavioral risk factors may be manifested as high blood pressure, high level of glucose in blood, excess weight or obesity. These “intermediate risk factors” may be identified at the level of primary healthcare institutions and indicate increased level of heart attack, brain stroke, cardiac insufficiency and other complications.

It has been proven that quitting smoking, reduced consumption of salt, eating fruits and vegetables, regular exercise and refusal to abuse alcohol reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Healthcare policy creating beneficial conditions for healthy lifestyle and increasing its economic affordability is of utmost importance for stimulating healthy behavior.

Identifying all persons subject to the highest risk of cardiovascular diseases and providing them with proper treatment is a condition for preventing premature mortality. The most important condition for provision of necessary care and consultations to all who need it is the provision of all primary healthcare institutions with relevant medicines and basic medical technologies, necessary for diagnosing and treating noncommunicable diseases.

Source: official WHO website