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Tuyeimo Haidula, CNS Correspondent, Namibia Take care of your heart instead of burning it out… This was the message delivered by a panel of experts during a webinar organised by CNS and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) , in lead up to World Heart Day. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death globally. In 2012, 31% of all global deaths were attributed to CVDs – this equates to roughly 17.5 million deaths. An estimated 7.4 million of these deaths were due to coronary heart disease, while 6.7 million were due to stroke. In Namibia CVDs account for about 21% of deaths. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) about 57% of persons who smoked 30 cigarettes per day for 25 years died of some CVD as compared to only 36% of non-smokers. Speaking during the webinar, programme development manager for World Heart Federation, Alice Grainger Gasser said CVDs and other NCDs hit the poor the hardest. Gasser called for strengthe...

Tuyeimo Haidula, CNS Correspondent, Namibia “Reducing and eliminating malaria is unequivocally one of the best buys in the global health”, said Dr Tim France , Team Leader for External Communications, Asia Pacific Leaders' Malaria Alliance (APLMA) and Managing Director, Inis Communication , while speaking during a webinar last month. The webinar was held on progress made (or lack of) towards ending TB, malaria and Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) by 2030 (or earlier) . Governments have adopted the Sustainable Development Goals one of which is to end TB and malaria by 2030. France said that malaria burden in the Asia Pacific region has been halved in the last 15 years. "So we are moving incredibly quickly. But it still imposes a huge drain on health resources; it also degrades productivity, undermines household income and keeps children out of school," he said. He pointed out that close to 50,000 people die from malaria annually in Asia Pacific with the potential for this...