The Cebu City Health Department (CHD) will prioritize healthy living lectures and exercise to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases among city residents.
City Health Officer Dr. Daisy Villa said 984 residents died of cardiovascular diseases while pneumonia killed 877 last year.
“This was not given enough focus in the previous years,” she said in a presentation of CHD’s 2013 programs and accomplishments.
Other common causes of mortality were: injury/trauma/wounds, 381; tuberculosis, 170; medico-legal cases, 138; decubitus ulcer, 87; diarrhea, 64; diabetes mellitus, 64; bleeding peptic ulcer disease, 59 and premature birth, 58.
The data were mostly taken from death certificates issued by the different hospitals in the city.
Preventable
“Most of the causes of mortality are preventable with change in diet and lifestyle and immediate consultation,” Villa said.
She said cardiovascular disease, for example, affects both people in their 50s and those younger due to poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking and drinking.
Villa said cardiovascular deaths is common anytime of the year and not just during the Christmas season when people are always exposed to eating unhealthy food.
“This has to be addressed with a healthy lifestyle program,” she said.
Pneumonia, which is common among children, also results in death due to the failure of parents to seek immediate medical care. The disease often starts with coughing and colds.
Villa said CHD will pursue this year the reprogramming of operations of its health centers to include healthy living lectures and teach residents to prioritize exercise.
Nurses and midwives are also trained to help in pneumonia detection, especially among the children so that they could augment the lack of doctors in some health centers.
They are trained to do clinical assessment of pneumonia, fever and ear infection so medicine can be immediately administered to the patients.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
