Both organizations are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 1998. The 2-day conference, held recently at PAHO in Washington, D.C., brought together leading scientists and health professionals to develop strategies to combat the pandemic. Hypertension is estimated to affect about 25 percent of adults in North and South America, or about 140 million persons.
Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart disease and the chief risk factor for stroke.
The recent pandemic conference covered such wide-ranging topics as the shifting global burden of disease, prevention and treatment opportunities, case studies of disease prevention, global tobacco control issues, ethnocultural issues, genetics, CVD and women, and CVD risk factors and children.