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Hydra, a Computer-Based Platform for Aiding Clinicians in Cardiovascular Analysis and Diagnosis
Published on: September 26, 2018
Global inequalities in access to cardiovascular health care: our greatest challenge
Rohina Joshi1, Stephen Jan1, Yangfeng Wu2
1The George Institute for International Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Insights
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major global killer, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Upgrading primary health care is crucial for effective CVD prevention and treatment in these regions.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
- Global Health
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) caused 17.5 million deaths globally in 2005, with over 80% in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
- CVD impacts younger populations in LMIC, leading to significant losses in healthy life years and economic productivity.
- Despite effective interventions being affordable, treatment gaps persist in LMIC due to poor prescribing, limited medicine access, and healthcare provider shortages.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the growing burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
- To emphasize the need for tailored, affordable, and accessible CVD prevention and management strategies in LMIC.
- To propose upgrading primary health care services as a central requirement for controlling CVD epidemics in developing nations.
Main Methods:
- Review of global CVD mortality data and intervention effectiveness.
- Analysis of treatment gaps and contributing factors in LMIC.
- Proposal for a dual approach combining clinical and population-level strategies.
Main Results:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents a significant and growing public health challenge in LMIC.
- Existing effective CVD interventions are underutilized in LMIC due to systemic barriers.
- A window of opportunity exists to curb the full impact of the CVD epidemic in developing countries.
Conclusions:
- Upgrading primary health care is essential for effective cardiovascular disease (CVD) control in developing countries.
- A combination of evidence-based clinical and population-level strategies, tailored for LMIC, is required.
- International health agendas must prioritize the growing CVD epidemic in LMIC.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) was the leading cause of death globally in 2005, responsible for 17.5 million deaths, more than 80% of which occurred in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In these regions, CVD occurs at a much younger age than in high-income countries, thereby contributing disproportionately to lost potential years of healthy life as well as lost economic productivity. Many effective interventions for CVD prevention and management are now affordable for all but the very poorest countries, but large treatment gaps still exist because of poor prescribing practices, limited availability of medicines, and lack of appropriately skilled health care providers. Despite the increasing awareness of the growing epidemic of CVD in LMIC, this public health priority has received little attention from those who determine the international health agenda. Although the burden of CVD is already enormous in developing countries, there exists a window of opportunity to prevent the epidemic reaching its full potential magnitude. This requires the rapid deployment of strategies already proven to be effective in high-income countries. Such strategies need to be tailored for LMIC for them to be affordable, effective, and accessible to disadvantaged groups and the burgeoning middle classes. Ideally, the control of CVD in these countries would involve a dual approach in which evidence-based clinical strategies for CVD prevention and treatment are complemented by evidence-based population level strategies. We propose that upgrading primary health care services is a central requirement for the control of the CVD epidemics facing the developing world.
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