The National Cardiovascular Centre has today launched the 2016 edition of the World Heart Day in Accra.
The theme for this year's event is "Creating heart-healthy environment." The call is to create awareness for Ghanaians to make healthy heart choices.
World Heart Day is a global campaign held annually on September 29 to raise awareness about the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Speaking at the launch, Director of the National Cardiothoracic Centre, Dr. Lawrence Agyemang Sereboe, indicated that 80% of premature deaths can be prevented if the risk factors are controlled.
He said that excessive intake of alcohol and smoking of cigarettes as well as shisha must be avoided in order to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
“I always say that you should know your numbers your blood pressure, sugar, cholesterol, weight and for those who smoke, know the number of sticks as you count to reduce them as well until you get zero, so zero is also a number for those who smoke shisha and the rest until you get to zero.
According to Dr. Sereboe, the World Heart Day is the biggest platform for creating awareness of cardiovascular diseases such as heart diseases and stroke. He also hinted that men are more prone to getting cardiovascular diseases as compared to women.
“We know that worldwide cardiovascular diseases account for about 5% of non-communicable disease deaths. Which makes it the leading cause of deaths worldwide.”
Dr. Sereboe mentioned that “The celebration of World Heart Day provides the perfect platform for the cardiovascular disease community to unite in the fight against cardiovascular disease and reduce the global disease burden. It seems to inform people around the globe that cardiovascular disease including heart diseases and stroke is the world’s leading cause of death and claims on average 17.7million lives annually.”
Meanwhile he encouraged the general public to participate in the coming health walk and screening which will take place at the Efua Sutherland Park, 29th September 2018.
Speaking to Chief of Cardiology at the National Cardiothoracic Center Dr. Abdul-Samed Tanko however, he encouraged Ghanaians to take care of their hearts by going for regular checkups at the clinics or hospitals so as to know their numbers in terms of sugar, cholesterol, weight and so on.
“We should all take various measures to make sure that we prevent heart diseases and strokes. That is, we should know our numbers, we should know our blood pressure, we should be able to get a health check to know your cholesterol levels, your sugar levels, and your weight.
The focus is to make a healthy choice of things that we can change… our lifestyles are modifiable to prevent heart diseases and stroke.” He said.
The Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority Mr Emmanuel Kofi Nti was also announced as the brand Ambassador for the World Heart Day 2018. He expressed great pleasure and challenged all stakeholders to make it an effort to eat healthily, do more exercises, stop smoking and drink alcohol in moderation.
However some partners of this year’s program made some contributions to the National Cardiothoracic Center to help in related heart surgeries.
