Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning (PILL), in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, University of Manchester and National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (Pakistan) organized a virtual event on ‘World Heart Day’, attended by a number of people from Pakistan, Bangladesh and United Kingdom including health professionals, general practitioners, psychiatrists, psychologists, patients/carers and general public.
According to the WHO, Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year, of which more than 85% of deaths occur in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LAMICs). At the event, Prof. Imran Chaudhry, Honorary Professor of Adult Psychiatry at University of Manchester and Professor & Chairman of Department of Psychiatry at Ziauddin Group of Hospitals, welcomed the audience and briefly talked about the importance of the World heart day and the large study on heart failure published by the research group. He further emphasized on measures to take care of cardiac health and well-being during the current Covid-19 pandemic where everyone has limited access to healthcare facilities.
Prof Zainab Zadeh, Professorial Scientist and Head of Division, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning talked about mental health problems especially depression and anxiety in cardiovascular diseases. She also talked about challenges and barriers in accessing help for cardiovascular diseases in LAMICs.
Prof. Tahir Saghir, Professor of Cardiology, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, talked about prevalence and impact of cardiovascular diseases, lack of awareness in rural population and delay in treatment concerning cardiovascular diseases in Pakistan. He further added that it is our responsibility to practice and promote general guidelines to reduce stress, maintain healthy diet, and avoid smoking and drug abuse.
Prof. Nabila Soomro, Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Dow University of Health Sciences, talked about the importance of cardiac rehabilitation and exercise for people with heart diseases. Dr. Mithila Faruque, Assistant Professor, Department of non-communicable diseases, Bangladesh University of Health Sciences, talked about prevalence and risk factors of cardiovascular diseases in Bangladesh.
