Thirty-six scholars from various countries around the world are convening in Tanzania to ponder on innovative public health tools and strategies that would help address the rising trend of Cardiovascular Diseases (diseases that affect the heart or blood vessels).
Senior academics and public health specialists from Tanzania are teaming up with the scholars, under the Lown Scholars Program, to discuss new ideas and projects for cardiovascular disease prevention worldwide. They have been hosted by Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Health Sciences (Muhas).
The Lown Scholars Program was established in honor of Dr. Bernard Lown, a world-renowned cardiologist and activist, whose career has advanced public health globally and supports the work of 62 senior and mid-career health professionals from 22 countries. Their public health work aims to address their three priority areas of cardiovascular health: universal primary healthcare and health inequities, cardiovascular health in urban poor, and psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease.
The Program is designed to create an international cadre of talented health professionals who will use public health tools and strategies to prevent cardiovascular diseases and promote cardiovascular health in developing countries.
Since its establishment in 2008, the Lown Scholars Program has supported the work of more than two dozen Lown Scholars from Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Their support has facilitated productive and long-term collaborations between the Scholars and Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health faculty members.
Dr. Pilly Chillo, (picture) from Tanzania, has been admitted this year as part of the Lown Scholars Program.
She is a cardiologist and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. At MUHAS she aims to raise awareness about CVDs as a public health concern among the doctors she trains. She was recently recognized as the International Society of Hypertension’s New Investigator of the Month. Her Lown Scholars proposal is entitled: “Feasibility, Acceptability and Effectiveness of a School based Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) control program in high risk communities in Tanzania.”
The development comes at a time when policymakers and health stakeholders set to gather in the capital Dodoma next month for the launching of a five-year Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Action Plan (2020-2025), as heart disease tops the list among causes of death.
Current data show NCDs are steadily increasing in Tanzania with an estimated prevalence of hypertension (high blood pressure) up to 35 per cent, diabetes 8 per cent, overweight and obesity 26 percent as well as 27.5 percent of young males who smoke cigarettes.