Belize Joins HEARTS in the Americas Initiative to Improve Cardiovascular Health

The Ministry of Health and Wellness with assistance from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) joined the HEARTS in the America initiative. The project is aimed at improving cardiovascular health and preventing heart disease among the population. The initiative’s goal is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors by implementing cost-effective interventions. Director of Public Health and Wellness, Dr. Melissa Diaz explained that there is a need to tackle the silent killer that is hypertension by working collectively. 

Dr.Melissa Diaz-Musa, Health and Wellness, Ministry of Health and Wellness: “Yesterday we had a meeting with some of the beverage manufacturers in Belize to address the Healthy Schools Initiative. And in the presentation there, a slide was up with regards to the mortality rate from COVID-19 and the comorbidities that affected this data. And it showed that 48% of deaths from COVID-19 in Belize had the comorbidity of hypertension. 40% of the persons who died were also diabetic, and 30% of the persons who died had chronic kidney disease. That shows the impact of the effects of non-communicable diseases. This initiative is not just about a new initiative it’s more about a commitment to better health, improved quality of care, and the hope for a time where hypertension and all its complications no longer are prevalent in Belize. Belize, as was mentioned is the 24th country in the region of the Americas to sign on to this great initiative and today we are here to officially roll out the activities set out in this plan. We aim to achieve these goals firstly at the Belmopan and San Ignacio areas with a view to roll out this initiative countrywide. The implementation of HEARTS involves collaboration between government ministries, healthcare organizations, and international partners to address the real cardiovascular health challenges. The HEARTS initiative is a global effort launched by the World Health Organization, and I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the collaboration and partnership with PAHO Belize to achieve this great initiative.”

Belize’s PAHO/WHO Representative, Karen Lewis Bell, explained that HEARTS will be the institutionalized model of care for cardiovascular risk management in the Americas by 2025.

Karen Lewis, PAHO/WHO Representative, Belize: “As you heard, HEARTS is being implemented and expanded now in 33 countries in the region to include over 4,000 health centers covering approximately 29 million adults. The goal is for the HEARTS model to be the model for cardiovascular disease risk management, including hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia in primary healthcare in the Americas by 2025. There are six technical pillars in the HEARTS in the America’s Initiative and I do believe that Dr. Cuellar will elaborate further on these. I hope I’m not putting you on the spot. The Pan-American Health Organization coordinates the HEARTS in the America’s Initiative and facilitates the dissemination of best practices for the prevention and management of these diseases so that we can have a positive impact on this burden of diseases and to move forward to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. PAHO is committed to providing continued technical support to the Ministry of Health and Wellness in the implementation and scale-up of HEARTS in Belize. This initiative is part of the Interprogrammatic Country Initiatives based on primary healthcare and integrated health services in Belize and is being supported with a European grant to the World Health Organization’s partnership for Universal Health Coverage. We can all be very proud of Belize for this commitment to addressing the crisis of non-communicable diseases in the country and in particular the heavy disease burden of cardiovascular diseases and its consequent mortality.”

The launch of the European Union-funded project took place this morning in Belmopan.