WORKSHOP DESIGNED TO IMPROVE CARIBBEAN HEART HEALTH

Regional Ministry of Health representatives and health managers will gather in St. Lucia
for the first Caribbean HEARTS Initiative workshop signaling a strong commitment of 17
countries and territories to the implementation of WHO/PAHO flagship Initiative for
improving cardiovascular health.

The workshop is entitled ‘Improving CVD Clinical Management and NCD Surveillance in
the Context of COVID-19 through HEARTS Implementation: Lessons Learned and Plan for
Scale Up’.

The program for the week of May 15 th to 19 th , 2023 is designed to present Ministry
officials and health managers with a robust agenda that includes: Cardiovascular risk
management training for St. Lucia’s healthcare staff; improving clinical management in
the context of COVID-19 through HEARTS implementation; and developing a monitoring
framework for NCDs for improved monitoring and evaluation.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), mainly ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke, causes
more than two million deaths annually in the Americas (North, South and Central
America, and the Caribbean). Hypertension, the main modifiable risk factor for CVD,
affects more than one-third of adults in this region. And as countries recover from the
COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need to continue to build competency to
improve the prevention of CVD and the clinical management of persons with NCDs,
especially hypertension and diabetes.

HEARTS is a global initiative and here in the Caribbean – which has very high
hypertension rates – it is led by the Ministries of Health, with the technical cooperation
of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) which seeks to integrate the initiative
into existing health delivery services. HEARTS promotes the adoption of global best
practices in the prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases. It also aims to
facilitate better control of high blood pressure and promote secondary prevention with
an emphasis on primary health care.
The workshop will be attended by over 55 participants, including HEARTS and
surveillance focal points from the Ministries of Health, as well as PAHO facilitators and
resource persons.

The objectives of the workshop are: to improve knowledge and demonstrate
cardiovascular risk management; best practices shared for improved implementation in
the Caribbean; an application plan for the hypertension control drivers; and a NCD
monitoring framework developed to suit each country’s situation.
The Caribbean’s embrace of the HEARTS in the Americas Initiative has the potential for
high impact in a relatively short period of time.

Countries with a longer track record implementing HEARTS, such as Barbados, British
Virgin Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago, have already
defined their Hypertension Clinical Pathways, a powerful evidence-based tool designed
to both elevate and standardize the management of hypertension and cardiovascular
risk.

In the Caribbean, HEARTS, which began in three countries, is now in 17 countries. Those
countries are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda,
British Virgin Islands (BVI), Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and
Turks and Caicos Islands.

Finally, because heart health is everyone’s business, on Thursday May 18 th , a public
webinar for all of the Americas (North, Central and South and the Caribbean) will be
transmitted from St. Lucia to observe World Hypertension Day. The public is called upon
to have their blood pressure measured, visit a health center and learn more on how one
can take better control of one’s health. Remember, your health is in your hands, take
control. The public webinar can be viewed on PAHO TV on YouTube.

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