World Health Day on 7 April 2013: focus on high blood pressure

Baku, April 8 (AzerTAc). Every year World Health Day is celebrated on 7 April. This Sunday will mark the 65th anniversary of the first World Health Assembly which was held in 1948. The World Health Assembly became known as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and decided to mark the anniversary of their founding with a day dedicated to raising global health awareness and declared this as World Health Day in 1950. World Health Day is used as an opportunity by the organization to raise international awareness of global health issues. Each year a new theme that centres on a specific health issue is put into the public spotlight. The theme for World Health Day 2013 on Sunday 7 April is high blood pressure. High blood pressure, also known as raised blood pressure or hypertension, significantly increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure and if left uncontrolled can cause blindness, irregularities of the heartbeat and heart failure. According to the World Health Organisation, 40 per cent of adults aged 25 and over suffered from raised blood pressure in 2008 and over 17.3 million people died from cardiovascular diseases in the same year. It is also estimated that around 80 per cent of deaths that result from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), diseases that are non-infectious and non-transmissible among people, occur in low- and middle-income countries.