HEARTS Program Launched in Belize
Each year, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated eighteen million lives or thirty-two percent of all deaths worldwide. Heart attacks and strokes are responsible for four out of every five deaths from cardiovascular diseases. Seventy-five percent of these deaths occur in low-income countries such as Belize, and up to one third of them occur among people who have not yet reached the age of seventy. But there’s good news to report. The World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with other partners launched the Global Hearts Initiative in 2016 to support governments in strengthening the prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases. And today, HEARTS in the Americas – which means Health Effects and Risk of Transport Systems – provided packages with indicators for everyone who has hypertension to follow. News Five’s Marion Ali filed this report on a ceremony at the Western Regional Hospital in Belmopan which focused on the HEARTS initiative, which will roll out first in Belmopan and Cayo in its initial stage.
Marion Ali, Reporting
The Health Effects And Risk of Transport Systems, or HEARTS, initiative kicked off today in Belize on a practical note. It was the handing over of packages that include indicators that show how to properly take blood pressure tests. As part of the initiative, nurses and hospital personnel in the west are being trained to apply the HEARTS method of taking blood pressure before the program is expanded to the rest of the country. By using this method, health professionals hope that it helps in better controlling hypertension, which leads to heart attacks and strokes.
Fidel Cuellar
Dr. Fidel Cuellar, Deputy Director, Public Health, Wellness
“If we can control hypertension, we can then make a very big impact on these deaths that are killing our population who is very productive, okay? So, how do you then go about doing it? Aren’t we doing it already? Well, the numbers say no. Globally, out of ten people, only – I mean – only four, maybe five, have their blood pressure controlled. The numbers show in Belize that approximately half of those who are hypertensive don’t know that they’re hypertensive. Those who know they’re hypertensive and receiving medications, the majority of them are in control. This is where HEARTS is so important.”
Deputy Director of Public Health and Wellness, Dr Fidel Cuellar says that even patients will be able to keep a close monitor on their blood pressure and to know what to do by following a HEARTS app that can be downloaded and used.
Dr. Fidel Cuellar
“This will be on posters on everybody’s desk -the nurses, C.H.W, everybody. And here it shows you how to take your blood pressure properly. It gives you the Q.R code to get the app. It tells you who is going to be treated with what drug. And here, it immediately tells us how it is we’re going to treat our hypertensive patient and when it is we’re going to refer this patient. Everyone in Belize will be following this.”
Dr. Melissa Musa, director of Public Health and Wellness shared that the recent COVID pandemic stats showed that hypertensive, diabetic persons and kidney patients were among the highest number of deaths to COVID. Hence since these diseases are often times linked to hypertension, it is important to be able to adequately monitor hypertensive cases through this new method.
Melissa Musa
Dr. Melissa Musa, Director, Public Health, Wellness
“It showed that 48 percent of deaths from COVID 19 in Belize had the co-morbidity of hypertension. 40 percent of the persons who died were also diabetic and 30 percent of the persons who died had chronic kidney disease. That shows the impact of the effects of non communicable diseases.”
At the end of the ceremony, there was the official handing over of clinically-validated blood pressure measuring devices that will be used in public clinics and hospital in the Western Region. Marion Ali for News Five.
