World Heart Day: Emphasis put on building awareness

Building medical institutions is not the solutions rather creating awareness about heart diseases and having healthy diet can help much, says Prof Brig (rtd) Abdul Malik, founder president of National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute (NHFHRI), on the occasion of World Heart Day. People should walk at least two kilometres a day while going and returning to offices or schools, suggests Prof Malik. He also recommended that if necessary an inter-ministerial attempt should be taken so that everyone can learn about the diseases during student life and be careful of their food habits. Bangladesh is observing World Heart Day today through different programmes organised by different hospitals and research institutions specialised on heart diseases. According to World Heart Foundation, physical inactivity increases the risk of heart diseases and stroke by 50%.  Obesity is a major factor for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. World Heart Day on September 29 is the biggest platform for raising awareness about cardiovascular diseases (CVD), according to the organisers. Heart diseases have been identified as the leading causes of death in the world. Every year, 17.3 million people die from the diseases, says Prof Sohel Reza Chowdhury of Deptartment of Epitomology and Research at NHFHRI. In a recent study of NHFHRI on urban poor, it has been found that unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and family history are factors that contribute to the diseases, he adds. The urban poor, most of the time, go to nearby pharmacies instead of hospitals or private clinics, he says. Medicine specialist Prof Saidur Rahman of Bangladesh Medical College tells the Dhaka Tribune that it is very common that the poor people often remain in dark about their diseases and make delay in taking treatments. Most of the pharmacies do not have proper educated doctors, he adds. According to a study done by ICCDDR,B, till 2013, 70% of the urban people went to pharmacies.