PHA-Exchange> WHO PUBLISHES RESULTS OF LARGEST-EVER GLOBAL COLLABORATION ON HEART DISEASE

[Claudio]

> > > This Year's World Heart Day highlights risk for women, more than
8million
> > > of whom die annually from cardiovascular disease
> > >
> > > Geneva - The World Health Organization (WHO) today launched the
resultof
> > > the largest-ever worldwide collaboration to study heart disease, the
> > > MONICA Monograph and Multimedia Sourcebook. The launch has been timed
to
> > > coincide with World Heart Day, on 28 September, whose theme
"Women,heart
> > > disease and stroke" aims to draw urgent attention to the fact that
> > > cardiovascular disease (CVD) is not just a men's health problem. Out
of
> > > the total 16.5 million CVD deaths annually, 8.6 million are of women,
> > > while heart attacks and strokes are responsible for twice as many
deaths
> > > in women as all cancers combined.
> > >
> > > "Although most women fear cancer, particularly breast cancer, they
donot
> > > make the same efforts to safeguard themselves from heart disease,
which is
> > > eminently preventable," "We must strive to make women aware that to
keep their
> > > hearts healthy, they need to eat smart, kick smoking and move for
health."
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > MONICA was important in measuring levels and trends over time in these
> > > diseases and their risk factors in different populations,
inprecipitating
> > > and monitoring prevention policies in different countries, and in
> > > demonstrating the importance of the new acute and long-term treatments
> > > that were increasingly introduced.
> > >
> > > All information gathered under the MONICA project has now been brought
> > > together in one full colour publication, designed to appeal to both
> > > professional and lay audiences. It also includes all the
MONICAdocuments,
> > > methods and results in two CD-ROMs. Published by WHO, the monograph
has
> > > been supported by the European Commission, by medical charities, and
by
> > > industry.
> > >