- The Global Problem of Cardiovascular Disease
Introduction
Cardiovascular disease is a major global health problem that continues claiming the lives of many people. The disease requires a special attention of the global organizations because if they do not address it with immediacy, it threatens to kill more people in the future. The current projections show that by 2030, the cardiovascular disease shall claim more than 23.3 million lives each year (Global status report on non-communicable diseases 2010 p.1). In the united states of America, The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) explains that one out of four women die from the heart disease, and that the Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common type of cardiovascular disease and the number one killer among the heart diseases (NHBLI 1). Today, the disease remains a major health risk because 8.6 million women (a third of the global population of women who die annually) die each year from the heart disease.
There are different types of the cardiovascular disease. The coronary heart disease involves the growth of plague inside the coronary artery. Plaque has substances like cholesterol and fats accumulating in the coronary artery and causing blockage of the artery. The plaque prevents the free flow of the oxygen-rich blood. Another type of the disease is the Coronary micro-vascular disease. MVD affects the tiny arteries. The disease, though non-obstructive, damages the tiny arteries. Broken heart syndrome is a condition whereby the muscles of the heart fail because of extreme stress.
Cardiovascular disease among women
The student’s focus on the analysis of the disease is women. Women are a special group of people because while the global rates of cardiovascular disease have been falling among men, the number of women suffering from the disease has been increasing (NHLBI 1). NHLBI explains that women are more likely to contract the coronary heart disease than men. The statistics on women with the heart disease are alarming. Women’s Heart Foundation (WHF) statistics report that the global number of women who die annually from the heart disease are 8.6 million (1). Futhermore, WHF explains that the number accounts for a third of women’s global deaths. In USA alone, there are 8 million women living with heart diseases, and 35,000 of the 8 million are women below the age of 65 years. The number of women who suffer heart attacks each year is 435,000, and of the number, 83,000 are below the age of 65 years (WHF 1). Women are at greater risk of suffering from the heart disease than men. WHF reports that while 38% of women die each because first instances of heart disease, a lower 25% of men die of the same incidences (WHF 1).
Aims and Objectives
The aim of the paper is to analyze the roles that international organizations play in the management of the heart disease. The specific objectives of the paper are:
- The strategies that the MNC (Medtronic) uses to address the problem of cardiovascular disease among women
Medtronic is one of the Multinational Corporations that participate in the fight against cardiovascular disease among women. The level of participation of the MNC is global, and it uses various strategies in addressing the problem of cardiovascular disease in women. Innovative partnership is one of the strategies that the global MNC uses in its fight against the disease. Elis (1) explains that the rapid increase in the incidences of non-communicable diseases (where cardiovascular disease falls) is one of the major concerns for Medtronic. The non-communicable diseases are the number one causes of global death, and Elis (1) forecasts that by 2030, the non-communicable diseases will have created an economic burden of more than $30 trillion. The challenge, however, is that most of the people (80%) of the people who die from NCDs like cardiovascular disease live in developing countries.
Medtronic employs medical experts who have experience in treating a variety of the NCDs, and Elis notes that cardiovascular disease and diabetes are the two leading diseases in terms of the number of global deaths. Medtronic, therefore, gives cardiovascular disease a special attention in the area of mobilizing resources towards the treatment of the disease among women. The commitment of Medtronic is to increase the ability of women who suffer from cardiovascular disease to get treatment. The MNC tries to ensure that the women who suffer from the disease can access the correct healthcare. Also, the MNC ensures that the life-enhancing therapies are highly available for the women suffering from the cardiovascular disease.
The challenge that Medtronic receives in addressing the global problem of cardiovascular disease, however, is its inability to provide the technology and resources that can serve the entire global population of the women with the disease. Elis (1) states that, “Only a few people who could benefit from Medtronic products receive them.” Different factors, for example, inadequacy of infrastructure and high cost of treating cardiovascular disease contribute to the challenges that the MNC faces in delivering its services the global community of women with cardiovascular disease.
However, the MNC’s pursuit for the innovative ways of addressing the problem of cardiovascular disease is a commitment that the organization is alive to, and it continues collaborating with different players. It collaborates with the governments, healthcare professionals, policy-makers, NGOs, and the advocacy groups for patients with cardiovascular disease as ways of fighting the challenges that the disease presents (Elis 1).
Awareness is one of the areas where Medtronic is committed as a way of fighting the threat of the cardiovascular disease. In its awareness strategy, Medtronic intends to fight the development of disease (new cases) by making women aware about the causes of the disease. One of the awareness cases in which the MNC participated was the 2011 meeting of the United Nations (UN) which aimed at increasing awareness about how to prevent the infections of non-communicable diseases (Elis 1). The MNC also invests directly in patient awareness. It has patient awareness centers in different locations, for example, in Beijing, China. The center teaches the public about the ways on living healthy lives that can prevent the development of cardiovascular disease. It also has a center for public education in Wuhan.
Awareness, advocacy, and education are some of the main areas where Medtronic focus in its global partnership programs. It has a global program called the Medtronic Foundation PatientLink Program, and through the program, the organization creates partnerships with global patient organizations to empower the people living with cardiovascular disease and the ones without the disease. The organization believes that through such partnerships, the world can contain the growth of the dangerous cardiovascular disease (Elis 1).
Another strategy that the MNC uses to address the global problem of cardiovascular disease in women is to increase the availability and access to its services and therapies. The organization builds the healthcare capacity for addressing the global heathcare problem by strengthening the regulatory frameworks for addressing the problem. One of the areas where the company has invested is in the training and development of the human resources that can help in the global fight against cardiovascular disease. The organization, for instance, makes an annual investment of $50 million in the training of its staff in physician education (Elis 1). The training enhances the knowledge about the use of the company’s products in solving the problem of cardiovascular disease. The organization, in its training and development initiative, focuses on the areas where the disease emerges newly.
The organization also makes its services and therapies towards the fight against cardiovascular disease in women affordable. Medtronic realizes that for the women with the disease to access its service, it must use reimbursement (Elis 1). The company collaborates with the bodies that pay for the care of the patients with cardiovascular disease, for example, governments, in making its services affordable. In India, for instance, Medtronic designed a program whose aim was to improve the ability of the patients, including Indian women, to access the services the company offers in cardiovascular disease treatment. The organization also tailors its funds towards treatment of the disease according to the economic reality of different regions in the world. The overall aim of Medtronic is to ensure that all the women in the world, who suffer from cardiovascular disease, can gain from the diagnostic and therapeutic services that the company offers towards managing the disease.
In addition to funding non-profit organizations with grants to support worldwide Rheumatic Heart Disease prevention, Medrtonic advocates and aims to bring awareness to the prevalence of the issue and get health professionals involved in its prevention. RHD is often deadly. In Africa 200,000 deaths happen every year from RHD globally the disease takes the lives of 350,000 people every year. The “WHO Global Program for Prevention and Control of Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease” is a collaborative project whose partners includes the World Heart Foundation and Medtronic. Benin, Cameroon, Mali, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Algeria are leading the “WHO Global Program for Prevention and Control of Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease”. A regional advisory board is being set up to assist with managing the program. Through funding treatment of RHD and following up with patients who have been diagnosed with Rheumatic Fever/Strep Throat (Group A Pharyngitis). Medtronic aims to work on the treatment of Strep Throat because RHD is the byproduct of acute rheumatic fever, which arises when Strep Throat is left untreated. Medtronic is collaborating with associates in Rwanda and South Africa since RHD remains the most widespread, neglected NCD of impoverished populations (Wyber, 2013).
- The Strategies that the World Health Organization (WHO) uses in addressing Cardiovascular Disease
The World Health Organization is an intergovernmental organization (IGO) that plays some of the leading roles in the fight against cardiovascular disease. The WHO strives reduce heart disease through their cardiovascular diseases programming that aims to prevent, manage and monitor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) globally. The WHO developed global strategies to reduce the incidence, morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) by: effectively reducing CVD risk factors and their determinants; developing cost effective and equitable health care innovations for management of CVD; monitoring trends of CVD and their risk factors.
The World Health Organization recognizes cardiovascular disease as a growing threat that claims the lives of many people in the world. Awareness is one of the areas where WHO invests a lot of money because the organization believes that the preventive approach is a suitable way for addressing the problem. The organization has a website that it uses for creating awareness about the risk factors that are related to cardiovascular disease. One of the risk factor of cardiovascular disease is tobacco smoking.
The Tobacco Free Initiative is WHO’s most effective method for reducing tobacco smoking. The Tobacco Free Initiative is conducting research about tobacco smoking in Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In collaboration with local service providers the Tobacco Free Initiative has targeted youth in the above mentioned countries with anti-smoking health education programs. Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho and Zimbabwe are being assisted with the development of anti-tobacco legislation. The World Health Organization also advises the global community to maintain a healthy diet. The community should also consider the importance of physical activity in reducing the risk of contracting the cardiovascular disease. The WHO encourages individuals to exercise for at least 30 minutes daily. Exercising helps in preventing heart attacks and strokes (WHO 1). WHO also recognizes women as a group that faces high risks of contracting heart infections. WHO (Acevedo, 2014), points out that in the last decade, the global population of men with cardiovascular disease has decreased. However, the population of women who contract the disease has increased. The implication is that the high-risk factors responsible for the disease could be higher in women. It also means that women do not take healthcare issues seriously, for example, issues of dieting and exercising.
Another initiative that WHO uses in fighting the disease is to organize global public health events. Such events are important in creating awareness about the risk factors of the disease. WHO also uses the World Health Day to sensitize the global community, especially women, on the ways of preventing the cardiovascular disease. On World Health Day 2013,the WHO set the theme of the event as hypertension the silent killer, the event created a global health crisis (Gelfer, 2013). The WHO addressed the relationship between hypertension and cardiovascular disease and stroke, and the organization stressed the fact that hypertension is a causative factor of cardiovascular disease. By preventing the risk factors for hypertension, therefore, the global community could fight cardiovascular disease easily.
WHO also mobilizes the parties within the heathcare system to join hands in the fight against cardiovascular disease and other heart-related diseases. The organization encourages governments, the civil society, health workers, families, and the private sector to combine their forces to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and its effects, e.g. death. The partnering INGO’s provide important statistical data that underscores the need for the global community to address the problem of cardiovascular disease in a more serious way. For example, in 2008, 17.3 million people in the world died of cardiovascular disease. The World Heart Organization also reports that in 2008, 40% of the adult population that is above 25 years had cases of high blood pressure. High blood pressure is an indicator of the risk of contracting cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, the organization reports that 80% of the global cases of non-communicable diseases occur in developing countries. The WHO stated in an article titled "Cardiovascular Disease In Low- And Middle-Income Countries: An Urgent Priority” that the global community must focus the war against cardiovascular disease in the developing countries. The countries have high cases of cardiovascular disease because of high rates of poverty. Due to poverty, people in developing countries cannot afford the treatment for cardiovascular disease. In addition, there are lower levels of education in the developing countries. It means that a large percentage of people in the developing countries do not understand the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and the preventive measures (Wurie, Haja, Francesco, & Cappuccio, 2012).
Monica Project is a collaborative project between WHF and WHO that provides health education at schools in developing nations, providing health materials, and other projects that aim to thwart rheumatic heart disease. The international cardiovascular health project has been in operation since 1980 in twenty-one countries. The project has been monitoring trends in cardiovascular diseases such as deaths and survival rates (Tunstall-Pedoe, Hugh, et al. 1999):
- The World Heart Foundation and its strategies for Cardiovascular Disease
The World Heart Foundation has a variety of strategies that it uses in its war against cardiovascular disease. One of the initiatives that WHF uses for successful fight against the cardiovascular disease is the creation of awareness campaigns. One of the campaigns that the international organization runs is the UN’s high-level meeting about the non-communicable diseases. The organization also creates awareness about how the members of the public could get involved in the UN initiatives to address the global problem of cardiovascular disease among the high-risk populations.
WHF also organizes World Heart Day annually on September 29th. During World Heart Day, the organization leads the global community in activities and events for creating awareness about heart diseases. Antoni Bayés de Luna, president of WHF came up with the idea of World Heart Day. In 1999 the World Heart Foundation partnered with the World Health Organization to launch the annual heart health awareness celebration. In 2013, over ninety countries participated in raising awareness of heart health on World Heart Day (Rogers, 2014).
Monica Acevedo wrote an article published in the CVD Prevention And Control Supplement on behalf of the WHF that addresses the issue of women and cardiovascular disease, explaining why women are at-risk-population for the global health problem. Acevedo emphasizes, with statistical evidence, that CVD is the leading killer of women, and that on average, 8.6 million women in world die each year because of CVD. Rates of cardiovascular have been steadily declining amongst men over recent years however, the rates of CDV amongst women have not shared similar declines. Despite the great risk that CVD places on the global population of women, however, WHF advices that most of the heart diseases, CVD included, are preventable, and the important thing, therefore, is to know how to prevent heart diseases. The organization uses the strategy of running global campaigns to sensitize women about the reasons for them being the endangered population and the ways they can use to prevent the disease (Acevedo, 2014).
WHF also develops initiatives for supporting women and children who suffer from cardiovascular disease. The organization creates partnerships with people who are interested in helping the at-risk-populations of women and children to overcome the threat of CVD. Frederique Constant is one of the partners in WHF’s strategies for addressing the problem. Frederique Constant created a special edition watch in 2012 called “Double Heart Beat” which is an initiative that donates the profits earned from the sales of the special edition watches to help patients with heart related diseases with children being given special priority(Frederique Constant,2014). The people who engage in initiatives to address cardiovascular disease can use the watches to strengthen their initiatives in fighting CVD among women and children.
WHF organizes global events that formulate the platforms for addressing the problem at a global scale. One of such events is the World Congress of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Health. The congress is a strategy for uniting the specialists in the field of cardiology so that they can address the problem in a more united way. They also share their knowledge and innovative solutions that they can use to deliver specialized care for the specific at-risk-populations of women and children. The forum also brings the world leaders together to share their policies in heart health. The participants in the forum share the best practices as a way of succeeding in the war against cardiovascular disease. Also, the forum enables researchers to share their scientific findings about cardiovascular disease. The researchers present at least 1,000 new abstracts on the preventive measures that their researches have proven as the best evidence-based practices for handling the disease (Dorotheo, Edgardo, 2014; WHF 1).
Conclusion
Cardiovascular disease is a major global health problem that has received the attention of most global organizations. CVD has attracted the attention of the global organizations because the number of people it kills annually continues to increase. It is the leading killer of women globally, with 8.6 million women dying each year because of the disease. Although the population of men who die from the disease has decreased greatly in the last decade, the population of women dying from the disease is on the increase, and the implication is that the global organizations must focus on women as their major targets. It is possible that women are less aware about the risk factors and the strategies for preventing the disease, and these are the key areas where the global organizations have focused. The essay has analyzed three global organizations and their strategies towards addressing the problems of CVD. As the analysis shows, Medtronic, WHO, and WHF are global organizations that use strategies that are related. However, Medtronic, apart from the mobilization and policy-related roles that WHO and WHF play, has the strategy of financing WHO and WHF and other participants in the problem. Medtronic’s strategies in addressing the problem are, therefore, important and they sustain the functions of WHO and WHF.
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