Ahead Of World Heart Day, WHO Official Highlights Heart Disease Crisis In South-East Asia

In South-East Asia, eight individuals succumb to heart disease every minute, warned today Dr. Catharina Boehme, WHO’s Officer-in-Charge for the region as she blamed commercial interests, regulatory gaps, weak enforcement, and poor oversight of unhealthy product marketing as key factors driving this alarming death toll.

With World Heart Day approaching on September 29, Dr. Boehme emphasized that cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of death in the region, with nearly half of these deaths occurring prematurely—before the age of 70.

She underscored progress made under the SEAHEARTS initiative, a regional commitment launched two years ago to accelerate cardiovascular disease prevention and care. “While promising advances have been achieved, significant challenges still lie ahead,” she noted.

By mid-2025, over 90 million people living with hypertension and diabetes have benefited from standardized care at public health facilities across the region. Legislative bans on harmful trans fats now protect more than 1.7 billion people, while tobacco control programs have reached over 103 million individuals through WHO-recommended strategies. These successes have been fueled by strong political will and coordinated multi-sector efforts, according to Dr. Boehme.

Despite these strides, numerous obstacles persist. Commercial pressures, inadequate regulations, lax enforcement, and insufficient monitoring of harmful product marketing continue to impede progress. Public awareness of cardiovascular risk factors remains low, and many countries lack the laboratory infrastructure and enforcement mechanisms required to regulate sodium in foods, test tobacco products, or monitor trans fats effectively.

The primary drivers of this epidemic include hypertension, diabetes, tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diets high in salt and fats, and physical inactivity. Alarmingly, 85% of people with hypertension and diabetes in the region have poor control over their conditions, Dr. Boehme warned. She also highlighted how rapid urbanization and aging populations are intensifying strain on already burdened health systems.

The delivery of quality care faces further challenges due to limited funding for non-communicable diseases, shortages of trained healthcare workers, and restricted access to essential diagnostics and medicines at primary care facilities.

Dr. Boehme called for a united response: “Governments, civil society, academia, the private sector, and communities must collaborate—no single actor can combat cardiovascular diseases alone.”

The SEAHEARTS resolution aims to bring 100 million people with hypertension and diabetes under protocol-based management by 2025, while ramping up efforts to reduce tobacco use, lower salt intake, and eliminate industrially produced trans fats from food supplies.

She urged individuals to adopt heart-healthy habits, including quitting tobacco, reducing salt consumption, engaging in daily physical activity, and managing stress.

For policymakers, Dr. Boehme stressed the urgency of prioritizing salt reduction policies, enforcing trans fat bans, and implementing comprehensive tobacco control laws.

Primary healthcare must remain the cornerstone of heart health strategies. This calls for strengthening urban health systems, expanding access to standardized medicines and technologies, engaging the private sector in coordinated care, and enhancing health information systems to improve patient tracking and treatment adherence. Training healthcare workers and streamlining referral processes are essential to saving lives, she concluded.