Panama expands cardiovascular disease prevention via HEARTS strategy

Panama is expanding its cardiovascular disease prevention and monitoring through the international HEARTS strategy. In collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Ministry of Health (Minsa) has launched a national technical training program covering 15 health regions to standardize patient monitoring using the DHIS-2 platform.

The initiative involves 186 health facilities, including 153 from the Ministry of Health and 33 from the Social Security Fund. The program focuses on early detection, clinical protocols, and consistent treatment for hypertension, diabetes, and other cardiovascular risk factors to prevent complications in the heart, brain, and kidneys.

This effort addresses critical health statistics from 2024, which indicate that non-communicable diseases accounted for 74.2% of deaths in Panama. Cardiovascular diseases were the leading cause of mortality at 42.1%, with hypertension-related issues contributing significantly to this figure.