Media statement

MRC and UCT combating heart disease

The South African Medical Research Council (MRC) has collaborated with the University of Cape Town (UCT) to host the 44th International Teaching Seminar in Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention of the International Society of Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention (ISCDEP).  The seminar, which is underway at Goudini Spa outside Cape Town, aims to equip cardiovascular disease specialists with the skills needed to carry out epidemiological studies to prevent the rising tide of heart disease and stroke in developing countries such as South Africa, as illustrated in The Lancet series on South Africa in 2009.

Cardiovascular disease has risen in South Africa and is fast becoming the leading cause of death in the country. Heart disease falls into the pool of non-communicable diseases that were responsible for an estimated 60% or 35 million of the approximate 58 million deaths worldwide. According to the National Department of Health, non-communicable chronic diseases will account for 69% of global deaths by 2030 and 80% of chronic deaths will occur in low and middle income countries. It is for these reasons that programmes such as the 10-Day Teaching Seminar are created to train future research leaders in measuring the amount of heart disease and stroke at a population level with the ultimate aim of extinguishing the rising epidemic of these diseases among our people.

The seminar, which is spearheaded by Professor Bongani Mayosi of UCT and Dr Andre Pascal Kengne of the MRC’s National Collaborative Research Programme on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease, is the first of its kind in South Africa and is designed to equip young clinician researchers with the knowledge and skills to combat heart disease and stroke in the country. Only thirty-eight international fellows, who were selected from a pool of over one hundred, will be taught by the world’s leading professionals from various Universities. The fellows are from Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, India, Iran, Ireland, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Tanzania, Uganda, UK, and USA. Professors Ed Davis (University of North Carolina, USA), David Goff (University of Alabama, USA), George Howard (University of Alabama, USA), Kay-Tee Khaw (University of Cambridge, UK), Darwin Labarthe (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, USA), Claudia Langenberg (University of Cambridge, UK), Bongani Mayosi (UCT), Neil Poulter (Imperial College, UK) and Dorairaj Prabhakaran (Centre for Chronic Disease Control, India) are the faculty members at the 10-Day Teaching Seminar. “These thirty-eight students are the future leaders in cardiovascular prevention,” says Chief Physician and UCT Professor of Medicine Bongani Mayosi. 

In an effort to assist in reducing the tragic global burden of cardiovascular disease, multinational brand PepsiCo Global Research and Development Directorate, which is headed by Dr George Mensah, collaborated with the MRC in providing an unrestricted educational grant to make the 10-Day Teaching Seminar possible.

For further information please visit:
 http://www.world-heart-federation.org/press/news/detail/article/44th-ten-day-international-teaching-seminar-on-cardiovascular-disease-epidemiology-and-prevention-1/).
The Lancet series on South Africa in 2009
(see http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61087-4/fulltext.