Public Health Professional and Medical Laboratory Scientist at the National Cardiothoracic Center at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Dr Swithin Mustapha Swarav, is advocating for targeted education on Non-Communicable Diseases, specifically on Cardiovascular diseases (CVDS), to dispel the misconception of women being less predisposed to developing CVDs, compared to men.
According to Dr. Swarav, the Lancet Commission report, 2021, reveals that in 2019, 35% of all mortality recorded in women globally was a result of CVDs. This is of grave public health concern as women make up 50% of the world’s population.
Speaking to Channel One News on the sidelines of a seminar held at the Public Health Nurses School in Korle Bu, dubbed “New Trends in Cardiovascular Diseases, incidence and Health Agenda”, Dr Swarav, emphasised the need to increase the awareness of modifiable risk factors of CVDs, highlighting that some of these factors equally raise the risk for CVD in women, and more so for women in their postmenopausal stage.
“We need to intensify the public health campaign on cardiovascular disease, their risk factors, especially modifiable risk factors. We need to be conscious of these. Women are equally at risk when unaware of these risk factors.
“The CVD trend is particularly high after menopause, when the female hormone estrogen, declines. This hormone has been shown to decrease the risk of CVD in women by downregulating inflammatory markers to fight atherosclerosis or plaque build up in our blood vessels.”
“The primary causes of life years lost prematurely for women worldwide are ischaemic/coronary heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. Therefore, interventions targeted at prevention and treatment of CVDs should be given top priority in the nation’s public health agenda,” he stated.
Dr Swarav further implored a change in our behavioural patterns, citing excessive alcohol intake, smoking and physical inactivity as recipes for developing cardiovascular diseases.
“Regular physical activity is very good. This can take the form of regular walks, bicycling, jogging or swimming if you can. Where we can afford to walk, instead of taking the car or ‘trotro’, let’s walk. We should make a conscious effort to rest/ take a break and practice self-care. Long periods of unrelieved stress are associated with developing CVDs.
“I am concerned about the apparent growing usage of Shisha among our youth! We should be mindful of the negative influence of globalization and its lure to be seen as ‘socially fit’. The odds of reporting CVDs are high in smokers (cigarette and shisha) compared to non-smokers. We as a society need to help our youth navigate through the maze of our time and not simply embrace everything.” Dr. Swarav advised.
