World Heart Day @ Dubber

September 29 is World Heart Day, a day dedicated to raising international awareness around the cause and prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD), a cause close to Dubber.

CVDs are the leading cause of death globally, resulting in an estimated 18.6 million deaths a year, and about 520 million people living with a CVD today. CVD affects the heart and blood vessels, resulting in coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease or other conditions.

As CVDs come in many forms, so do its causes – smoking, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol are key risk factors for heart disease. Other medical conditions and lifestyle choices can also increase the risk of heart disease including; diabetes, overweight and obesity, unhealthy diet, excessive alcohol use, or air pollution.

Save a Child’s Heart & Dubber

For two years, Dubber has been a proud sponsor of Israeli humanitarian organisation, Save a Child’s Heart.

Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) is an international organisation that provides life-saving surgery to children suffering from heart disease from countries where access to pediatric care is limited or nonexistent. So, every day is World Heart Day with SACH.

For 25 years they’ve saved the lives of nearly 6000 children from 63 countries around the world. From these countries, 50% of the children come from the Palestinian Authority and Gaza, Iraq, and Morocco. More than 40% of the children are from Africa, and the remainder are from Asia, North and South America, and Eastern Europe.

SACH medical professionals

The ultimate goal for Save a Child’s Heart is to enable equal opportunity for life-saving surgery for children with CVD. One of SACH’s programs is taking on medical professionals from developing countries and providing them post-graduate training in all facets of pediatric cardiac care in order to provide sufficient treatment in their own communities.

SACH trained professional and Ethiopia’s first pediatric cardiac surgeon, Dr Yayu Mekonnen addressed Dubber in celebration of the organisation’s 25th anniversary.

Inspired by an experience that shaped his career, Dr Yayu shared an anecdote of why he became a pediatric cardiac surgeon and why he loves what he does.

“When you provide this procedure at the right time, you change the course of this child’s life forever. They will be normal kids and are able to do whatever they want in life now.” – Dr Yayu Mekonnen

Use heart to connect ❤️

As the world struggles to fight COVID-19, it’s put pressure on us to be cautious of our own health, as well as the safety of those around us. With this new wave of vigilance, World Heart Day’s theme is around Using a heart to connect. 

At Dubber we can vouch for a more mobile and modernising way of connecting with people, especially through digital platforms and telehealth. Use heart to connect is about harnessing our knowledge and influence in order to spread accurate information about heart health to our communities and loved ones.

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