Africa faces an "epidemic" of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in the coming decades which needs to be urgently addressed by healthcare professionals and governments, according to a Declaration for Cardiovascular Practitioners in Africa, published today.

The Declaration is published in a special edition of the Cardiovascular Journal of Africa (CVJA) to mark its 20th Anniversary. CVJA is the official journal of the Pan-African Society of Cardiology (PASCAR) and was originally founded in Cape Town as the Cardiovascular Journal of South Africa.

Speaking at the launch of the Declaration, the journal's Editor-in-Chief, Professor Andries Brink, said: " In the last 25 years, cardiology has made major advances in Africa but we now face a major challenge.

"The vascular consequences of poor living conditions such as rheumatic heart disease, which kills many thousands, will be joined by the strokes and heart attacks resulting from diabetes and obesity which are increasingly occurring in our populations.

"We must react now to prevent cardiovascular disease becoming the African epidemic of the mid-21st century…