HJAR May/Jun 2021

48 MAY / JUN 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS COMMUNITY HEALTH We Must Remain Focused on Creating Healthy Communities & Address COVID-19 DIALOGUE COLUMN COMMUNITY HEALTH significant toll on physical, emotional and mental health. The lack of physical activities can often lead to individuals being faced with cardiovascular diseases, essentially for women. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) didn’t stop with COVID. It’s still the No. 1 killer of wom- en, claiming one in three women’s lives. Also: • CVD kills one woman about every 80 seconds. • CVD is the leading cause of all mater- nal death. • About 4 million stroke survivors alive today are women. • More younger women than men have heart attacks. • New data suggests younger women are less likely to be aware of the warning signs for heart attacks and strokes. According to the American Heart Asso- ciation’s data, heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem and will have a greater impact on heart health for years to come. In 2019, 18.6 million people worldwide died of CVD. That reflects a 17.1% increase over the past decade. Also, let’s remember the health and well- ness of our school-aged children. Coronavi- rus disease has severely impacted the lives of children and adolescents. With school closures, the first COVID wave led to a de- crease of physical exercise for students. They were used to running, playing and exercis- ing on playgrounds. With remote learning, too many school aged children are simply sitting at home in front of a computer every day at home while not getting the necessary exercise to be heart healthy. Many aren’t eating properly, unable to receive the nu- tritional meal that was available at school. School-aged children with poor exercise and unhealthy dietary habits can in the years to come end up with cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. Community and individual-level strategies that support the establishment of positive health behaviors early in life are the foun- dation of promoting positive cardiovascular COMMUNITY and public health awareness efforts with the goal of creating healthy heart strategies have largely focused on educating individuals about risk factors, which include smoking, diabetes, hypertension and physical inactivity. These same strategies hold true for communities trying to reach herd immunity to COVID-19. Cumulative effects of modify- ing these risk factors will result in behavioral changes leading to a decrease in cardiovas- cular and COVID-19 mortality. On the other hand, environmental approaches for both diseases require a paradigm shift to focus on overall populations in counties, cities and states. This is important because residents of communities are our nation’s greatest asset. Research and data have shown that COVID-19 has taken a huge toll on human life worldwide and it will be one of the top three to five causes of death in 2020. COVID-19 continues to dominate the headlines and pauses the focus on so many other deadly chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease. What an unprecedented year it has been. Stress from the pandemic has taken a “Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.” —WINSTON CHURCHILL