In 2001, 16.6 million deaths globallywere due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD); this figure willincrease to 25 million by 2025. The two leading causes ofdeath worldwide are cardiovascular coronary heart disease(which causes heart attack and heart failure) andcerebrovascular disease (which causes stroke). The directand indirect costs of CVD are high: enormous health carecosts and productivity/income losses. Of all global deathsfrom CVD, 65 percent occur in developing countries. Thiswill increase to 75 percent by 2025. By then, cardiovasculardisorders will be the biggest cause of lostdisability-adjusted life years (DALYs) worldwide, and thesecond leading cause of DALY loss in developing countries.In developing countries, cardiovascular diseasespredominantly affect people of working age (30-64 years).Death and disability in middle age has major social andeconomic consequences Prevention or treatment of riskfactors for CVD is effective and sustainable in the longrun. The risk of CVD can be reduced quickly andsubstantially with successful preventive practices. Thisalso has a favorable impact on other non-communicablediseases (NCDs) that share the same risk factors. Treatmentof established CVD is expensive and resource intensive.Unregulated private health systems tend to direct a largeproportion of resources to costly cardiovasculartechnologies available only to the wealthy few.
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