Lung cancer mortality trends in Colombia, 1985-2018

Objective

To determine lung cancer mortality trends in Colombia during the period 1985-2018 in the population aged 35 years and over and identify changes in the trend.

Methods

Analysis of mortality time series. The specific standardized rates by sex and age group were calculated. Using joinpoint regression, the annual percentage change in the rates was estimated and points of change were identified.

Smoking cessation knowledge and perceptions of cancer care providers at six Latin American cancer institutions

Objective

To assess the characteristics, self-reported tobacco use, knowledge, and perceptions about smoking cessation among cancer care providers (CCPs), as well as perceived barriers to inform interventions that can potentially improve quitting rates and the prognosis of cancer patients in Latin America.

Social determinants associated with self-reporting of symptoms and access to COVID-19 testing and diagnosis in the Plurinational State of Bolivia

Objetcive

To identify the prevalence of self-reporting of symptoms and access to testing and diagnosis of coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19), as well as its association with social determinants of health (SDH).

Improving cardiovascular health with the patient-centered, integrated primary care HEARTS model in Trinidad and Tobago

This article describes the introduction of the Pan American Health Organization’s HEARTS in the Americas program in Trinidad and Tobago and the successful experiences and challenges encountered in introducing and scaling it up as a strategy for strengthening the health system’s response to cardiovascular diseases. Evidence about implementation of the HEARTS program in the World Health Organization’s Region of the Americas was reviewed to identify the progress made, barriers, success factors and lessons learned.

Civil society’s role in improving hypertension control in Latin America

Despite effort in Latin America to implement the HEARTS initiative, hypertension control is still inadequate. There are many advances in the medical and technical arena, but little to promote political and systemic change. The vibrant civil society that has advanced policy change in tobacco control, food policy, and other public health initiatives can make a crucial contribution to prioritize hypertension control in the political agenda, ensure sustainable funding, promote the procurement of affordable and effective medications, and expand community demand for action.

Monitoring and evaluation platform for HEARTS in the Americas: improving population-based hypertension control programs in primary health care

HEARTS in the Americas is the Pan American Health Organization flagship program to accelerate the reduction of the cardiovascular disease (CVD) burden by improving hypertension control and CVD secondary prevention in primary health care. A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) platform is needed for program implementation, benchmarking, and informing policy-makers. This paper describes the conceptual bases of the HEARTS M&E platform including software design principles, contextualization of data collection modules, data structure, reporting, and visualization.

Preliminary results of the HEARTS Initiative in Mexico: facilitators and barriers in information systems

Objective

To compare the differences in treatment coverage of patients with systemic arterial hypertension and the proportion of patients with controlled AHT, between December 2020 and December 2021 in health facilities that implemented the HEARTS Initiative, and to explore the facilitators and barriers related to information systems in Mexico.

Association between population hypertension control and ischemic heart disease and stroke mortality in 36 countries of the Americas, 1990-2019: an ecological study

Objective

To quantify the association between the prevalence of population hypertension control and ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke mortality in 36 countries of the Americas from 1990 to 2019.

Methods

This ecologic study uses the prevalence of hypertension, awareness, treatment, and control from the NCD-RisC and IHD and stroke mortality from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Regression analysis was used to assess time trends and the association between population hypertension control and mortality.

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