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Abu Dhabi CVD programme

Driving individual level intervention

Posted in Government action on 21 July 2010

Due to rapid modernisation, data suggests that there has been a substantial increase in cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Abu Dhabi. The approach the country has taken to try and reverse this trend is through encouraging population-level behaviour change.

The first response to the country’s growing CVD burden was the ‘Weqaya’ Population-wide Screening Programme, launched in 2008. The screening tests were based on the core Framingham indicators with a few additions. The Framingham Risk Score was determined for the Weqaya population using the Framingham General CVD 10-year Risk Score to predict the number of CVD events in Abu Dhabi. The results generated are being used by the health sector for individual-level interventions and public health planning and for the reviewing of models of delivery of health care. The Framingham Risk Score was determined for the Weqaya population using the Framingham General CVD 10-year Risk Score to predict the number of CVD events in Abu Dhabi. In addition, the information is a key driver for the non-health sector response.

Ambitious targets for the CVD risk control programme include:

  • the creation of a dramatic impact through coordinated activity of government, private, and civic sectors;
  • reducing Framingham-predicted cardiovascular events by 75% over 25 years;
  • make Abu Dhabi one of the healthiest environments to live in the World by 2030 and
  • systematically influence decisions at the key levels involving the health as well as non-health sector, public and private.

Source: ProCor, 20 July 2010.

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