Cardiovascular disease among leading causes of deaths in Brunei: health minister

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of deaths in Brunei Darussalam, with over 400 fatalities recorded in 2016, local media cited the health minister as saying on Saturday.

In addition, nearly 10 percent of Bruneians aged 40-69 years old have a more than 30 percent chance of suffering from a heart attack or stroke within the next decade, along with an alarming tendency among young people to display symptoms of heart disease, Brunei's Health Minister Haji Zulkarnain said.

In his address at the opening ceremony for the 22nd ASEAN Federation of Cardiology Congress (AFCC) held here on Saturday, Zulkarnain said: "If the worrying trend continues, premature deaths from cardiovascular disease will not only severely impact our families and community, but also our economic development."

"No single intervention or drug will reverse the trend," he said. "Sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy diets, lack of physical activity and smoking are all known preventable risk factors, which need urgent attention."

"The challenges in addressing these issues are not faced by only one single state alone, but concern us all, and as such, our response to this challenge must be a collective one," the minister said at the Congress.