September 29 is the World Heart Day. This day was first observed in the year 2000 and till 2010 it used to be observed on the last Sunday of September. However, from this year it will be celebrated in this eleventh year of celebrations the theme is One World, One Home, and One Heart.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) causes 20% of deaths globally each year, making it the world’s number one killer. These diseases account for high morbidity and mortality all over the world, but countries where the epidemic began early are showing a decline due to major public health interventions and awareness. But in the developing countries, it has been seen that these diseases have assured epidemic proportions in India as well. It is seen that a total of about 64 million cases of these diseases are likely in the year 2015, of which nearly 61 million would be CHD cases (the remaining would include stroke, and rheumatic heart disease and congenital heart ailments).

Deaths from this group of diseases are likely to amount to be a staggering 3.4 million. In the urban areas of India Coronary Heart Diseases (CHD) are more prevalent, but there is clear declining gradient in the prevalence from semi-urban to rural populations. It has been shown that a sizeable burden of CHD in adult rural is 3-5% and in urban areas it is 7-10%. Hence, it is seen that about 30 million patients with CHD in India, there would be 14 million of whom are in urban and 16 million and 16 million is rural areas. Extrapolation of these numbers estimates the burden of CHD in India to be more than 32 million patients. The increase in CVDs is due to (10 increase in population size, (20 ageing of the population and 930 increased vulnerability due to lifestyle changes. We can prevent the majority of these deaths through simple steps including food habits and lifestyle. Hence, we must look after ourselves, and imagine that there is One Home, One World, and one Heart.