Cardiovascular Health
What We Do › Cardiovascular Health
“We talked about diet, exercise, and other lifestyle changes that could make a real difference for me and she told me that we would work together to ensure my success.”
Alexander Didebashvili, a hypertension patient who participates in the Mtskheta Family Medicine Center's "Healthy Heart" program (Mtskheta-Mtianeti/Mulwaukee partnership)
Globally, an estimated 17 million people die each year of cardiovascular disease, particularly heart attacks and strokes. A large percentage of these deaths can be attributed to unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as tobacco smoking, lack of exercise, and poor diet.
Although cardiovascular diseases have long been considered ailments of affluence, recent research clearly indicates that they pose a health threat that knows no geographic or socio-economic boundaries. The countries of the former Soviet Union, for example, currently face considerable challenges related to cardiovascular diseases with mortality rates more than three times higher than averages in Western Europe.
Since AIHA’s inception in 1992, many of our partnerships have focused on improving cardiovascular health whether through community-based education and prevention programs at the primary care level or enhanced treatment services at hospitals and polyclinics.
Projects
AIHA’s efforts to improve the scope and availability of high-quality cardiovascular health services include:
Primary Healthcare Partnerships
Health promotion and disease prevention both play a critical role in primary care. AIHA primary care partners work closely with patients, arming them with the tools they need to make better lifestyle choices and, because cardiovascular disease is a problem in many communities, a number of AIHA partnerships have designed programs that address hypertension and other factors that contribute to heart attacks and strokes.
These wellness programs focus not only on helping patients manage existing conditions, but also educating people so they can avoid the unhealthy lifestyle choices that may put them at greater risk for developing cardiovascular disease. Read more...
Minsk Cardiovascular Wellness Center
AIHA’s Minsk/New Brunswick partnership collaborated to develop primary level disease prevention and health promotion programs that targeted cardiovascular health. Working together from 1999 to 2001, the partners established the Minsk Cardiovascular Wellness Center to promote cardiovascular screening and healthy lifestyles. Read more...
Hospital-based Partnerships
Funded primarily through a cooperative agreement with USAID, AIHA’s 43 hospital-based partnerships paired institutions and communities, bridging long-held misconceptions, cultural differences, language barriers, and decades of isolation to forge strong relationships based on the common goal of improving the healthcare services available to the people of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Cardiology emerged as a focus issue for many of these partnerships. Read more...
Cardiovascular Health Information Resources
Disseminating accurate, timely information rooted in evidence-based practices and sharing successful models and lessons learned plays an important role in AIHA's strategy for sustainable healthcare programs. For more information about cardiovascular health, please visit the following links:
» EurasiaHealth Knowledge Network
» AIHA Clinical Practice Guidelines
» Articles
» AIHA Success Stories
» Other Resources
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