Health care promotion: cardiovascular risk in Nova Friburgo

Abstract

Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are multifactorial long-term diseases that develop along life. They share modifiable risk factors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, diet and obesity. Since these risk factors are preventable, it is extremely important to carry out actions in order to educate the population about the pathophysiology of NCDs and its risk factors. The main goals of the Program of Health Care Promotion are to monitor cardiovascular risk factors in the diabetic and hypertensive population as well as healthy individuals from Nova Friburgo, and to provide information regarding modifiable risk factors. Thus, this article aims to report the Program's experience during its first year, with regard to its implementation, impact of the activities developed on the population and population feedback, lessons learned, challenges and future directions. In the first year of implementation, we observed that the Program had positively impacted the population, by monitoring their health status periodically and by means of health education.