Addressing Cardiovascular Disease Burden in low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs)

Abstract

The global epidemic of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is spiraling upwards primarily due to a sharp rise in the low and middle income countries (LMICs) which are experiencing rapid health transition driven by socioeconomic, technological and lifestyle changes. LMICs currently face a double burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases, leading to competing claims of health conditions that vie for policy makers' attention as public health priorities in a setting of limited resources, substantially high out-of-pocket expenditure and weak systems of healthcare delivery. Evidence from high income countries suggests that most CVDs are largely preventable as the major CVD risk behaviours including tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, harmful use of alcohol, are avoidable and modifiable. Effective and sustainable behaviour change strategies for LMICs would require low cost, affordable and scalable interventions. There is limited evidence from LMICs on effective interventions to prevent, control and manage CVDs in LMICs. The global guidelines and framework for addressing CVD calls for an urgent need to identify and assess contextually relevant and resource sensitive health care interventions augmented by policy actions. A combination of population based and high risk individual based strategies which are evidence based, cost-effective, feasible as well as scalable would reduce CVD mortality and its devastating impact in LMICs.

Understanding of and perceptions towards cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors: a qualitative study among residents of urban informal settings in Nairobi

“…Growing and unplanned urbanisation in SSA has resulted in poor quality of urban housing, sanitation issues and limited access to efficient healthcare systems. These key issues have been identified as psychosocial stressors that can trigger the deterioration of health and well-being of people and have been linked to the development of CVD 11 12. Existing evidence also shows that in LMICs, urban populations are disproportionately affected by the CVD burden compared with the rural populations 13 14…”

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Hypertension: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study in Municipalities of Kathmandu, Nepal

“…Hypertension has also well-established relationship with obesity and diabetes [ 10 , 11 ]. Recent reports have provided evidence that increasing rates of noncommunicable diseases, including hypertension, are associated with other determinants like increases in rapid unplanned urbanization, globalization, and sociodemographic and nutritional transition [ 12 , 13 ].…”