Interventions Heart Disease- Malaysia - Essay Example

Interventions Heart Disease- Malaysia Grade (March 25th, Interventions Heart Disease- Malaysia ProblemMalaysia is a country is Asia that is faced by a completely different set of health problems compared to the other Asian countries. While malnutrition and other nutritional challenges face most of the countries is Asia, Malaysia is faced by major health problems characteristic of the developed economies in the world (Anand, et al. 2008). Thus, the heart disease is a major health challenge in Malaysia, which requires immediate intervention to control.

Problem Context The rapid urbanization of Malaysia is one of the major factors that have been attributed to the change in lifestyle, and thus a possible increase in the rate of heart disease (Chia & Srinivas, 2009). According to the Malaysian National Census data, the demographic pattern of Malaysia was found to be rapidly changing, with the rural population speedily decreasing. Thus, the data indicated that the distribution of the Malaysian population by the year 2000 was 40.4 % as rural population and 59.

6% comprising of the urban population (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2009). In this respect, there has been a drastic change in the health state of Malaysia, where the non-communicable diseases have rapidly increased as the major causes of death compared to the communicable diseases (Anand, et al. 2008). Thus, the rapid change in the social geographical setting from the rural-based population to a more urban-based population serves as one of the major factors influencing the rate and geographical distribution of heart disease in Malaysia (Chia & Srinivas, 2009).

The social demographic patterns have indicated that there has been a rapid change of lifestyle in this country courtesy of urbanization, resulting to the increase of the heart disease risk factors, such as obesity. Statistics have indicated that the rate of obesity in Malaysia has tripled within the decade closing the 20th century, with the obesity rate registered in the country increasing from 4.4% in 1996 to 14% in 206 (Department of Statistics Malaysia 2009). Further, the health data statistics have also indicated that the rate of hypertension has increased from 33% to 43% in the same period, while the rate of diabetes mellitus has been found to have doubled for the same period.

Another aspect of the lifestyle change is the rise in the rate of tobacco use in the urban areas of Malaysia, where hypertension has also been observed to have the highest rate of prevalence (Chia & Srinivas, 2009). Thus, following this geographical and social lifestyle transformation, the ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease have emerged as the highest causes of death in Malaysia (Department of Statistics Malaysia 2009). The dietary habit has also been seen to be a contributory factor, considering that the common Malaysian diet is known to be low in fiber and unsaturated fatty acid contents, while being highly rich in carbohydrates and saturated fatty acids (Anand, et al. 2008). Further, the consumption of high cholesterol content foods was observed as yet another risk factor for cardiovascular disease in Malaysia, accounting for the rise in the prevalence of heart diseases in the country, and especially in the urban area where the food lifestyle has changed, to comprise of more modern foods and less of the traditional vitamin and fiber rich foods.

Consequently, the country has registered a high prevalence of the heart disease.ReferencesAnand, S.S. et al. 2008. Risk factors for myocardial infarction in women and men: insights from the INTERHEART study. European Heart Journal, 29(7), pp. 932-40.Chia, Y.C., Srinivas, P., 2009. Cardiovascular Risk in a Semirural Community in Malaysia. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, 21(4), pp. 410-20.Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2009. Statistics on Causes of Death, Malaysia 2007. Putrajaya: Department of Statistics, Malaysia.