The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has called for more awareness campaigns on the need for people to adopt healthier lifestyles to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases.
The governor said this in commemoration of the World Heart Day marked by the World Heart Federation (WHF), a nongovernmental organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Obaseki said, “In commemoration of the World Heart Day, it is important for stakeholders, including health workers, civil society organisations and relevant Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to collaborate on sustaining awareness campaigns to sensitise the people on dangerous lifestyles that expose them to the risk of cardiovascular diseases.”
“On our part as a government, we want to ensure that the people are better served on how best to avoid lifestyles that expose them to cardiovascular diseases, which according to research, remain the leading cause of death and disability in the world,” he noted.
He said the state government is putting the necessary health policies in place such as the Edo State Health Improvement Programme (Edo-HIP), instituting the state-wide health insurance scheme, and improving the investment climate to attract investors in the healthcare sector, to provide the people with the right environment to access support on cardiovascular-related health challenges.”
Obaseki noted that his administration will continue to provide the needed structure that will encourage more people to go for regular medical checkups and enable more people in rural and semi-urban areas to have easy access to medical centres and health professionals, adding, “With Edo-HIP, we intend to make the state’s healthcare sector more effective and efficient. We are making plans to have enough diagnostic centres with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines and Computed Tomography (CT) scan machines for basic diagnosis. There will also be centres for dialysis. However, even with the full complement of these, we need the people to know that they should also make healthier lifestyle choices so as prevent these ailments.”
The World Heart Federation urges greater action from policymakers, healthcare professionals, patient organisations and individuals to work together to reduce the burden of heart disease and stroke, and ensure people all over the world can have longer and better lives.
