27th ASEAN Federation of Cardiology Congress to take place in Hanoi next month

The AFCC2023, themed "Cardiology at the Crossroads: Challenges and Opportunities", is expected to welcome over 2,000 local and international participants, including 300 leading cardiovascular experts as guest speakers.

The event, hosted by the Vietnam National Heart Association, will focus on cardiovascular disease management in the context of multiple co-morbidities, newly advanced interventions and technology, artificial intelligence, telemedicine, the limited resources of ASEAN and collaboration with other developed foreign partners and countries.

This is an important event for Vietnam's cardiovascular industry, and also a good opportunity for doctors in Vietnam and in the region to exchange and update knowledge and professional skills.

The congress is also an opportunity to spread health messages to the public in the fight against increasing cardiovascular diseases in Vietnam, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of cardiovascular health care for Vietnamese people.

According to the 2022 Global Burden of Disease report, cardiovascular disease has become the leading cause of death worldwide. Each year, it claims 19.5 million lives, accounting for one-third of deaths from all causes.

A worrying reality is that the incidence and mortality from cardiovascular disease is increasing rapidly in low- and lower-middle-income countries (accounting for 75% of total deaths), including ASEAN countries.

According to data from the World Heart Federation, it is estimated that each year in the entire ASEAN region, about 4 million people die from cardiovascular disease.

In Vietnam alone, statistics from the Ministry of Health show that about 200,000 people die from cardiovascular disease every year, accounting for 33% of deaths. The burden of disease and treatment costs has also increased significantly.

Vietnam is also a country with a high rate of hypertension, one in four adults has high blood pressure. Meanwhile, high blood pressure increases the risk of death from stroke by four times and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by three times compared to people without the disease.