Publication: Cardiovascular Health
Date
2003-01
ISSN
Published
2003-01
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
In 2001, 16.6 million deaths globally
were due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD); this figure will
increase to 25 million by 2025. The two leading causes of
death worldwide are cardiovascular coronary heart disease
(which causes heart attack and heart failure) and
cerebrovascular disease (which causes stroke). The direct
and indirect costs of CVD are high: enormous health care
costs and productivity/income losses. Of all global deaths
from CVD, 65 percent occur in developing countries. This
will increase to 75 percent by 2025. By then, cardiovascular
disorders will be the biggest cause of lost
disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) worldwide, and the
second leading cause of DALY loss in developing countries.
In developing countries, cardiovascular diseases
predominantly affect people of working age (30-64 years).
Death and disability in middle age has major social and
economic consequences Prevention or treatment of risk
factors for CVD is effective and sustainable in the long
run. The risk of CVD can be reduced quickly and
substantially with successful preventive practices. This
also has a favorable impact on other non-communicable
diseases (NCDs) that share the same risk factors. Treatment
of established CVD is expensive and resource intensive.
Unregulated private health systems tend to direct a large
proportion of resources to costly cardiovascular
technologies available only to the wealthy few.
Citation
“World Bank. 2003. Cardiovascular Health. at a glance. © Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/52413fa8-df16-5c78-9bf6-423779303d1d License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”