Spotlight: NCDs — Cardiovascular Disease

BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW; EDITED BY BERNICE BORN

During the coming months WiRED International will spotlight noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which are the primary health threat in the world today. According to the World Health Organization, NCDs claim 16 million lives a year globally.

More than 75% of deaths worldwide are due to NCDs. Their number exceeds that of all deaths from communicable diseases, plus deaths related to maternal and perinatal malnutrition. Our community health education website offers an e-library of more than 350 medical and health information modules, many of which feature NCDs. WiRED International believes that individuals and communities that understand the basics of NCDs can make vast improvements in their health outcomes.

Cardiovascular Disease

Nothing kills more people each year than cardiovascular diseases. The World Health Organization reports that an estimated 7.4 million people died from some form of coronary heart disease in 2012.

Case Study: One case of heart disease started with a child complaining of a sore throat. By the time young New Zealander Tristan Katoa was diagnosed with rheumatic fever, he needed open heart surgery to repair a damaged heart valve and penicillin shots for years to come to prevent a recurrence of the disease.*

According to the World Heart Federation, rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the most common acquired heart disease in children in many countries of the world, especially in developing countries, and it is completely preventable.

Most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by addressing behavioral risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet and obesity, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol. RHD, for example, begins with a throat infection called “strep throat,” a treatable illness. If untreated, this condition worsens into RHD and even death in children and young adults.

WiRED International offers more than a dozen modules on varieties of heart disease for grassroots audiences, students and medical and healthcare professionals. These courses cover coronary heart disease, heart attack, congestive heart failure, congenital heart disease, abnormal heart sounds in children, RHD and echocardiographic diagnosis techniques.

Some modules appear in series, such as the rheumatic heart disease training series and the echocardiographic diagnosis of heart disease series.

WiRED International believes that all NCDs and their toll can be significantly reduced by educating communities—and those who serve them—on preventive measures and accurate diagnoses of health issues.

Learn about heart diseases by going to our e-library at www.wiredhealthresources.net and searching for your topic by first letter.

* Source and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qboKkc5U27Q.