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Today is World Heart Day
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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Today marks World Heart Day, which was first held in 1999 on the initiative of the World Heart Federation (WHF) and was supported by WHO and UNESCO.
This year's motto is: "One World, One Home, One Heart". The annual holding of such an event is very important, since heart and vascular diseases remain the main cause of death of the planet's population and take about 17 million lives every year. The main diseases are ischemic heart disease, arterial hypertension with its complications - myocardial infarction and strokes.
In Ukraine, the most common causes of death and disability of the population are: arterial hypertension - 32.5%, ischemic heart disease - 25.6%, strokes - 19.2%. Moreover, over the past 10 years, the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases has increased more than 2 times, and morbidity - by 55%.
Mortality from cardiovascular diseases in Ukraine in 2010 amounted to about 500 thousand people.
The number of patients who need heart surgery reaches 40 thousand per year. Moreover, in Ukraine only about 15 thousand heart surgeries are performed, while in Germany, with a population of 80 million, more than 200 thousand operations per year are performed.
According to the World Heart Federation, 80% of deaths from heart attacks and strokes can be prevented by controlling the main risk factors for these diseases: smoking, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity.