World Heart Day today

The World Heart Day-2026 is being observed in Bangladesh as elsewhere across the globe "Heart Disease Can Hide in Plain Sight: Don't Miss a Beat" on Tuesday aimed at raising awareness about cardiovascular diseases.

Every year on September 29, the World Heart Day is observed to draw attention to the causes of cardiovascular illnesses, their management and how to use the heart for humanity and nature. 

The discussion around World Heart Day is of the highest importance because of the increasing number of heart attacks and other heart-related cases that have come into the limelight with more and more people being affected by these cardiovascular issues.

Unhealthy eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle too are of importance to people of all ages and awareness regarding the same is crucial.

On the occasion, public health experts on Monday in a webinar called for allocating a significant portion of the increased health budget to address the growing risks of high blood pressure and heart disease among young people in Bangladesh.

With support from the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress, a research and advocacy organization, organised the webinar titled "Health Budget to Address Hypertension and Heart Disease Risks among Youth: Bangladesh Perspective", said a press release.

PROGGA Executive Director ABM Zubair presided over the webinar.

The webinar was informed that around 65 lakh people die from cardiovascular diseases worldwide every year.

In Bangladesh, heart disease accounts for around 34 percent of all deaths. Around 283,800 people died from heart disease-related illnesses in the country in 2024, with hypertension responsible for 52 percent of those deaths.

According to the Bangladesh NCD STEPS Survey 2018, around 12 percent of the country's population aged 18 to 39 suffer from hypertension.

Professor Dr Sohel Reza Chowdhury, head of the Department of Epidemiology and Research at the National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute, said the allocation for the health sector has been increased from 5.3 percent to 7.4 percent in the current budget, which was highly commendable.

"If a significant portion of this increased allocation is spent on hypertension medicines for high blood pressure, it could play an effective role in reducing the risk of heart disease in the country," he said.

GHAI Bangladesh Country Lead Muhammad Ruhul Quddus said though non-communicable diseases account for 71 percent of total deaths in Bangladesh, only 4.2 percent of the health budget is allocated to the sector.

He called for increased allocation to control hypertension and other non-communicable diseases.

Dr Md Maruf Haque Khan, Assistant Professor of the Department of Public Health and Informatics at Bangladesh Medical University (BMU), stressed raising awareness among young people about healthy diets and lifestyles to reduce their risk of heart disease.