SPAIN HAS become the fifth European country to ban smoking in public places and leisure areas just as the World Congress of Cardiology 2006 (WCC 2006) started in Barcelona.
Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain opens World Congress of Cardiology
and welcomes the cardiovascular and ageing theme
The law restricting smoking came into force on Friday 31 August. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the congress, Elena Salgado Méndez, Spain’s Minister for Health and Consumer Affairs said: “The law is for everyone, smokers and nonsmokers alike. It’s in favour of life and against disease.” Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain declared the WCC 2006 open and spoke of her pleasure in presiding over a meeting with the special theme of cardiovascular disease and ageing – a theme which she welcomed particularly as she is president of a foundation that focuses its efforts on the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
She said that while science was making major advances towards combating cardiovascular disease (CVD), these advances were expensive and not within the reach of many less-developed countries. “It’s becoming increasingly evident that the risk of cardiovascular disease can be significantly reduced through adopting simple, inexpensive, and effective measures, which basically involve a healthy diet, regular physical exercise, and avoiding tobacco consumption,” said Queen Sofia.
In his opening address, Michal Tendera, President of the ESC, explained that making ageing and CVD the main theme of this year’s congress highlighted one of the most important challenges facing cardiovascular medicine. The age structure of the European population would shift over the next 50 years and by 2050 for every 100 people aged 25 to 64, there would be 57 people aged 65 and over – twice as many as today, he explained.
“These persons will require a lot of cardiovascular care, and many of them will eventually die of heart disease or stroke, as the prevalence of death due to CVD shows a steep increase with age,” said Tendera.
He described the latest ESC initiatives, including the Heart Health Charter, to be finalised at the end of 2006, which defines tools needed to set up heart healthy environments.
Valentin Fuster, president of the World Heart Federation (WHF), called upon the United Nations to add cardiovascular diseases and other chronic diseases to the UN Millennium Development Goals for 2015.
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