20 APRIL 2023

PHRC hosts press conference on May 17 - World Hypertension Day and awareness campaign on the prevention of Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)

On April 20, 2023, press conference dedicated to the May 17 - World Hypertension Day and educational campaign on the prevention of Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) was held at the Public Health and Reforms Center (PHRC) of the Ministry of Health.

The press conference was opened by the director of PHRC Gahraman Hagverdiyev. He emphasized that, today fight against non-communicable diseases has become one of the priority tasks of health care systems both globally and at the level of individual countries: “Major risk factors for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are bad habits, tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and the harmful use of alcohol. That’s why, health workers and public health specialists are constantly campaigning among the population, promoting people to take responsibility for their health.”

Head of the Health Policy and Planning Department of the PHRC Nabil Seyidov noted that non-communicable diseases are a problem of modern times and society: "Therefore, not only measures of the health system and strengthening of medical services, but also public education should be carried out in this regard. The main goal of this campaign is to advise people to change their lifestyle, control blood pressure and blood sugar levels.”

Head of the General profile medical aid organization department of the The Administration of the Regional Medical Divisions Kamala Aghayeva said that this educational campaign organized with the cooperation of various institutions was an important step: "The main goal here is to educate population about arterial hypertension disease and possible complications of this disease and emphasize importance of measuring blood pressure regularly."

Chairman of the Azerbaijan Society of Cardiology Uzeyir Rahimov regrettably emphasized that, in recent years, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the number one cause of death and disability in the world, including Azerbaijan: "But it is possible to prevent these diseases. An important way to control NCDs is to focus on reducing the risk factors associated with these diseases."

Director of Servye Azerbaijan Company Rishad Tahmazov stated that hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a widespread clinical problem in Azerbaijan, as elsewhere in the world: “Raised blood pressure is the major cause of death in the world. But this problem is still not paid enough attention by the population. For this purpose an initiative was put forward by the International Society of Hypertension and propaganda campaign on "Because it is necessary" was launched all over the world.”

At the end, the event was followed by a question-and-answer period, and educational materials on prevention of non-communicable diseases prepared and printed by PHRC were distributed among participants.

Note that, educational campaign held last year, this time will be co-organized by PHRC, TABIB, Itv, "Baku Metropoliteni" Cjsc, Azerbaijan Society of Cardiology and Servye Azerbaijan Company and other institutions are expected to join the cooperation within the frame of campaign.

The full text of the news is available in Azerbaijani language.