03 October 2016 – Department of Health Secretary Dr. Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial expressed the Philippine government’s support for the Global Hearts Initiative, a new program of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC) intended to tackle cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Speaking as a panelist at the launch of the Global Hearts Initiative in New York on September 22 at the margins of the High Level Week of the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly, Secretary Ubial noted that “at least 1 in 4 Filipinos die from heart disease, stroke or another Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) before the age of 70…many of those deaths can be prevented, provided people can obtain the health services they need.” She added that the Global Hearts Initiative, which is “a set of highly effective interventions with supporting tools as technical packages” will be a “major boost” to the Philippines’ program of combatting cardio-vascular disease.
The Global Hearts Initiative is comprised of three technical packages: a new set of evidence-backed policy options and examples to support governments to lower people’s salt consumption, a technical package to reduce cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol, and a set of practical, affordable and achievable measures to help countries implement specific provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
It aims to reduce deaths due to cardiovascular disease in low and middle-income countries by employing strategies that have been proven to be effective in developed countries, and to scale up prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases, especially in developing countries.
During the launch, WHO Director General Margaret Chan thanked the Philippines for its support of the Global Hearts Initiative and expressed her appreciation to Michael Bloomberg, philanthropist and former Mayor of New York who is also the WHO Global NCD Ambassador. Mr. Bloomberg in turn said that Bloomberg Philanthropies is honored to be able to work with WHO, noting that NCDs are “one of the world’s most urgent challenges.”
Secretary Ubial emphasized that increased revenues from the 2012 Sin Tax Law drastically changed the country’s health care financing system and enabled the government to increase free health insurance coverage of the poor and to offer a benefit package which covers NCDs. CVD Risk assessment and management of high risk subjects are provided through government health facilities.
The Philippines is one of the 12 countries where the Initiative will be initially rolled out. Other participating countries include Barbados, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Nepal, Nigeria, Tajikistan, Thailand and Uganda.
Other partners in the Global Hearts Initiative include the World Heart Federation, the World Stroke Organization, the International Society of Hypertension, and the World Hypertension League. END
