With climate change breathing down the nape of the country’s population, we are glad the Department of Health has joined forces with the World Health Organization and other development partners to strengthen collaboration to address cadiovascular diseases.
Health experts say climate change has become one of the causes of having cardiovascular diseases, one of top three causes of death in the country from January to November 2022.
These are ischemic heart and cerebrovascular diseases as well as neoplasm, with ischemic heart disease continuing to top the list of causes of deaths in the Philippines with 103,628 or 18.4 percent of the total, according to health officials.
But what is climate change, a frequent topic among experts today?
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns — such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions.
But since the 19th century, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, with burning fossil fuels generating greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.
The main greenhouse gases causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane, which come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building, for example. Clearing land and cutting down forests can also release carbon dioxide.
Agriculture, oil and gas operations are major sources of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and land use are among the main sectors causing greenhouse gases.
The Department of Health has joined hands with the the World Health Organization, Resolve to Save Lives, and World Heart Federation.
This was aimed at preventing and beating cardiovascular diseases to highlight actions needed to prevent deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases and noncommunicable diseases.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) – or diseases of the heart and blood vessels – are responsible for a third of death in the Philippines, according to the Philippine Statistics Office,
CVDs are part of the larger group of noncommunicable diseases, which account for 72 percent of deaths in the country in 2021 alone.
We raise our hope that collaboration among the Department of Health, the World Health Organization, development partners, the academe, medical associations, the legislature, civil society as well as other advocacy groups for cardiovascular disease prevention would get the appropriate attention and efforts.