KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 29

The South-East Asia-HEARTS initiative is being rolled out by countries across the South-East Asia Region, including Nepal, to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases, a leading cause of death.

'Integrated efforts are being made through SEAHEARTS for scaling up hypertension and diabetes treatment, coverage, and control, bringing together all non-communicable diseases risk reduction and management on a single platform. We are at a history-defining juncture. With political will and investment in primary health care, countries can accelerate SEA-HEARTS strategies to reduce cardiovascular burden and save millions of lives,' said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, WHO South-East Asia in a press release today.

Cardiovascular diseases account for 3.9 million deaths in the WHO South-East Asia Region every year, a quarter of all deaths from noncommunicable diseases, with most of them being preventable.

Tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, high blood pressure, and high blood glucose levels are among the major causes of cardiovascular-related deaths. While 29 per cent of adults use tobacco, the average daily salt consumption in the region is 8 grams against the WHO-recommended levels of less than 5 grams per person per day. Nearly 245 million people in the region have high blood pressure and are unaware of their condition. Nearly 100 million adults have diabetes.

'An integrated approach is important to improve NCD management and address the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. We must scale up primary care capacities to address multiple chronic conditions with integration of complementary programmes to ensure we don't miss opportunities for diagnosis and management of NCDs,' said Dr Khetrapal Singh.

To drive progress, health ministry officials, technical experts and partners met in June this year and adopted the 'Dhaka Call to Action' drive to scale up control and management of cardiovascular diseases by accelerating the SEA-HEARTS initiative.

According to the WHO, realistic but ambitious interim milestones were set for 2025, which seek to place 100 million people with hypertension and/or diabetes on protocol-based management, cover one billion people with at least three WHO MPOWER tobacco control measures, cover one billion with at least one WHO SHAKE salt-reduction measure and protect two billion people from the harm of trans-fatty acids through WHO RE-PLACE package best practices or complementary policy measures.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Timor-Leste have set up national targets that will contribute towards achieving the target of placing 100 million people with hypertension or diabetes on protocol-based management. India alone is aiming to cover 75 million people by 2025.

Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand have already implemented three MPOWER measures. Likewise, 10 countries have identified baseline average salt intake. Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka are including salt content in food labelling to help consumers make healthy choices.

The SEAHEARTS initiative seeks to leverage these efforts to further accelerate progress to promote simplified treatment protocols for hypertension and diabetes, ensure continuity of care and supply of medicines and strengthen digital information systems to track the patients' progress.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 30, 2023, of The Himalayan Times