Gov’t, Stride592 collaborate to launch cardiovascular advocacy project

The Ministry of Health on Friday partnered with a local group known as Stride592 to launch a new project called ‘Strengthening Our Cardiovascular Advocacy’(SOCA), at the Windjammer Hotel in Kitty, Georgetown.

Established some 14 months ago, Stride592 is a movement created to encourage people to exercise and improve their lives.

The SOCA project, launched under Stride592, acts as an educational and social campaign to bring awareness about the move to eradicate cardiovascular diseases within the country.

At the launch, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony noted that such initiatives are important to reduce the spread of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

“I think this is a very important initiative. In the ministry, we recognise that chronic non-communicable diseases play a very important role in the profiling of diseases that we have in Guyana,” Minister Anthony explained.

The health minister disclosed that most deaths recorded in the country are due to the spread of NCDs.

“If you think about the amount of people who die per year, we probably have about 6,000 people who die every year in our country. And the majority of those deaths are because of chronic non-communicable diseases,” Dr Anthony stated.

SOCA’s Committee Advisor and Head of the Cardiology Department of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Dr Mahendra Carpen disclosed that the age at which persons are being diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases has become younger.

“The change in the age group for serious cardiovascular diseases is astounding. The time period of just 10 years or 12 years of practice has moved the needle to a much younger population. And today we are launching this programme to take the activity component of cardiovascular health to a different level,” the medical doctor posited.

He stressed that cardio activities have a tremendous impact on all the other diseases such as diabetes, and hypertension which contribute to cardiovascular diseases.

Meanwhile, the founder of the project, Onika Jervis said the main goal is to work with the Ministry of Health in minimising the number of cardiovascular cases in the country.

“The SOCA Heart project is an educational campaign, an awareness campaign, a fund-raising campaign…Over the next 10 weeks, we are going to be educating the community on cardiovascular disease, wellness, and how\ we can live better lives,” Jervis explained. The project will see groups being formed to host weekly exercises within the National Park and other recreational areas across the country.