The National Heart Institute (IJN) and multinational pharmaceutical firm Novartis Malaysia have partnered to help Malaysians take better care of their heart. The collaboration aimed to help patients improve disease management of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD) through better care and therapies.
ASCVD diseases like coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) are caused by the buildup of high cholesterol levels and the hardening and narrowing of arteries.
Novartis Malaysia Country President Mohamed El-Wakil said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over 15 million people die annually from ASCVD. This accounts for 85 per cent of global cardiovascular death.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019 reported that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like ASCVD accounted for 71 per cent of premature deaths in the country.
“Of key concern within NCDs is ASCVD which contributes to 54 per cent of all NCD deaths. This pioneering collaboration between Novartis Malaysia and IJN is crucial as it can be a potential game-changer within the ASCVD treatment paradigm. It brings together the expertise and impeccable standards of care by the nation’s premier cardiovascular specialist institution, IJN, together with the comprehensive experience of Novartis in the area of cardiovascular,” said Mohamed Elwakil, Novartis Malaysia Country President.
IJN CEO Datuk Dr Aizai Azan Abdul Rahim said, the collaboration couldn’t have come at a better time with the prevalence of ASVCD in Malaysia. He hopes the project will achieve its goal of showcasing the best of ASCVD care.
“In addition, the Health Ministry has just revealed the National Strategic Plan for Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) 2016 – 2025, aiming to reduce NCD deaths from 20 per cent to 15 per cent by 2025. We look forward to our collaboration with Novartis
Malaysia to achieve our goal of ‘What Goods Looks Like’ in ASCVD care,” said Dr Aizai.
The project will be focused on:
• Research collaboration to generate data on ASCVD in Malaysia and measure outcomes of ASCVD patients.
• Establishing IJN as an internationally recognized training centre of excellence in ASCVD care.
• The establishment of a state-of-the-art multi-disciplinary Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Clinic (CRRC) to optimise ASCVD care.
• The CRRC was successfully launched at IJN and is hosted every Monday. The clinic provides risk management treatment for patients with cardiovascular disease and primary lipid disorders to optimize ASVCD care. – The Health
