Keywords
Citation
(2004), "Launch of MONICA Monograph", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 17 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2004.06217aab.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Launch of MONICA Monograph
International and global news
Launch of MONICA Monograph
Keywords WHO, Heart, Women, MONICA
In September, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the result of the largest-ever world-wide collaboration to study heart disease, the MONICA Monograph and Multimedia Sourcebook. The launch was timed to coincide with World Heart Day, on 28 September, whose theme "Women, heart disease and stroke" aimed to draw urgent attention to the fact that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is not just a men's health problem. Out of the total 16.5m CVD deaths annually, 8.6m are women, while heart attacks and strokes are responsible for twice as many deaths in women as all cancers combined.
MONICA (MONItoring CArdiovascular disease) was a major research project, conceived in 1979, in which teams from 38 populations in 21 countries studied heart disease, stroke and risk factors from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, the largest such collaboration ever undertaken. It was important in measuring levels and trends over time in these diseases and their risk factors in different populations, in precipitating and monitoring prevention policies in different countries, and in demonstrating the importance of the new acute and long-term treatments that were increasingly introduced.
All information gathered under the MONICA project has now been brought together in one full colour publication, designed to appeal to both professional and lay audiences. It also includes all the MONICA documents, methods and results in two CD-ROMs. Published by WHO, the monograph has been supported by the European Commission, by medical charities, and by industry.
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe, editor and chief author of the Monograph said: 'MONICA is a model for others, of how collaboration across political and national boundaries can tackle problems shared by the whole of humankind, as well as providing results and ideas that will fascinate everyone interested in heart disease, stroke and risk factors".