The reported impact of non-communicable disease investment cases in 13 countries.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a leading health and development challenge worldwide. Since 2015, WHO and the United Nations Development Programme have provided support to governments to develop national NCD investment cases to describe the socioeconomic dimensions of NCDs. To assess the impact of the investment cases, semistructured interviews and a structured process for gathering written feedback were conducted between July and October 2022 with key informants in 13 countries who had developed a national NCD investment case between 2015 and 2020. Investment cases describe: (1) the social and economic costs of NCDs, including their distribution and projections over time; (2) priority areas for scaled up action; (3) the cost and returns from investing in WHO-recommended measures to prevent and manage NCDs; and (4) the political dimensions of NCD responses. While no country had implemented all the recommendations set out in their investment case reports, actions and policy changes attributable to the investment cases were identified, across (1) governance; (2) financing; and (3) health service access and delivery. The pathways of these changes included: (1) stronger collaboration across government ministries and partners; (2) advocacy for NCD prevention and control; (3) grounding efforts in nationally owned data and evidence; (4) developing mutually embraced 'language' across health and finance; and (5) elevating the priority accorded to NCDs, by framing action as an investment rather than a cost. The assessment also identified barriers to progress on the investment case implementation, including the influence of some private sector entities on sectors other than health, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and changes in senior political and technical government officials. The results suggest that national NCD investment cases can significantly contribute to catalysing the prevention and control of NCDs through strengthening governance, financing, and health service access and delivery.

May Measurement Month 2019: analysis of blood pressure screening in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

High blood pressure (BP) is one of the leading causes of death in Kyrgyzstan. The world's largest event in the field of increasing awareness of raised BP is the May Measurement Month (MMM) campaign. Kyrgyzstan joined MMM in 2019. The inclusion criteria for participants in the study were: age ≥18 years and providing informed consent. Hypertension was defined as the presence of systolic BP ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic BP ≥90 mm Hg based on the mean of the second and third of three sitting BP measurements or on treatment for hypertension. Most of the participants (96.9%) were surveyed inside two large shopping malls of Bishkek. The total number of people who took part in the screening was 2013. The mean age was 38.8 (± 12.6) years, and 1006 were women (50.0%) and 1007 men (50.0%). One-hundred eighty-four participants had hypertension (9.1%), of whom 59 (32.0%) were aware of their diagnosis, and hypertension was controlled in 25 participants (13.7%). The mean BMI was 24.0 (± 4.1) kg/m2, 34 (1.7%) participants had diabetes mellitus, 12 (0.6%) had a history of myocardial infarction, 4 (0.2%) had a history of stroke, 314 (15.6%) were smokers. 41 (2.0%) drank alcohol 1-3 times a month, 46 (2.3%)-once per week. MMM screening allows us to gather up-to-date data on the prevalence, awareness and control of hypertension among volunteer screenees in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

The prevalence of major cardiovascular risk factors in a rural population of the Chui region of Kyrgyzstan: The results of an epidemiological study.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors (RFs) in the rural population of the Chui region of Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia). METHODS: The sample was representative of the population in terms of age and sex and included at least 10% of the population aged 18-65 y. Of the 1,672 people included in the cohort, 1.330 people responded to the invitation (79.5% of the total sample population). All study participants were interviewed using standardized questionnaires and examined by a cardiologist. Blood pressure (BP), weight, height, waist circumference (WC), fasting serum glucose, and fasting lipid level were measured. RESULTS: The prevalence of major CV RFs in the examined sample was as follows: arterial hypertension 34.1%, obesity 25.7%, and abdominal obesity 52.3%; the factors were significantly more prevalent in women (68.2%) and increased with age. The frequency of lipid metabolism disorders was 88.4% in the examined subjects, and an increased level of low-density cholesterol (70.5%) was common. Hypodynamia was detected in 15.6% of the subjects, diabetes mellitus in 3.76%, and a family history of cardiovascular disease was present in 34.8% of the examined subjects. The frequency of smoking was 24.6% and was significantly higher in men (46.9%). CONCLUSION: Abdominal obesity, followed by hypercholesterolemia and arterial hypertension were the most common RFs among the rural population of the Chui region of Kyrgyzstan. Smoking was the most common RF among men. The prevalence of traditional CV RFs, except smoking, increased with age.