20% of Vietnam Population to Suffer from Heart Diseases by 2017

Up to 20% of Vietnamese population will suffer from cardiovascular diseases and hypertension by 2014, the Vietnamese Cardiovascular Association said at a press conference in the central city of Danang on Oct 9. The press conference was opened to provide information related to the 14th National Congress of Cardiovascular that is aimed to boosting the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and hypertensions. More than 2,000 doctors, including nearly 100 heart experts and surgeons from all over the world, will be participating in the four-day congress, during which 1,000 reports and researches will be presented. The participants are coming from the United States, France, Japan and China while others will be coming from Singapore and Malaysia, as well as Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. According to the Vietnam Cardiovascular Association (VCA), 25.1% of Vietnamese people aged 25 or above is suffering from hypertension. The Population Service International (PSI) earlier said stroke is a leading cause of death among adults in Vietnam. A survey of the Hanoi-based Public Health School also revealed that two-thirds of the Vietnamese population suffer from high blood pressure but are unaware of their condition. Cost of treatment of patients with cardiovascular diseases worldwide amounts to hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars per year. (tuoitre.vn Oct 10)