The World’s Top Cause of Death

Heart disease and stroke are the number one and two killers in the world, and low and middle-income countries account for 80% of all cardiovascular disease deaths worldwide. Global trends of increased urbanization, more tobacco use, stable food supplies, and less physical activity are major contributors to the increase in cardiovascular disease, and more and more countries in the developing world now face the double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Although policy and health care interventions have reduced cardiovascular disease in wealthier countries, diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive strategies have reached only a fraction of those who could benefit worldwide.  In fact, cardiovascular disease in low and middle-income countries is only now being recognized as a serious global health problem. 

New Tactics for Developing Countries

Drawing on lessons learned in control of other complex diseases in resource-poor settings, DSMHI is working to advance cardiovascular disease control in both the US and abroad.  With support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), our work includes model prevention and treatment projects, economic evaluation of intervention strategies, and biosocial research on the determinants of cardiovascular epidemics.

The first step in preventing cardiovascular disease is identifying individuals who are at high risk.  With support from the Fogarty Center of the NIH, we are developing a cost-effective cardiovascular risk prediction tool for use in developing countries, by identifying risk factors that are easily measurable in resource-poor settings.  The tool will be tested in South Africa and India, two countries facing a growing cardiovascular disease epidemic. We are also working with the Disease Control Priorities Project on the 2^nd edition of Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries, which identifies global public health priorities and provides information for health policy makers on the cost-effectiveness of potential interventions.