Tackling cardiovascular health and disease in Nepal: epidemiology, strategies and implementation.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have now been finally recognised as a major public health issue in Nepal. This small landlocked South Asian country has an abundance of harmful risk factors that lead to CVD and the country lacks a system to maintain cardiovascular health. Recent national and international attention on CVDs led to the formulation of a non-communicable diseases policy draft, which is yet to be endorsed by the government. This paper describes the present situation of CVDs in Nepal, with a focus on coronary heart disease and its risk factors (epidemiology), ongoing global and national strategies pertaining to the country (strategies), and the work that needs attention to implement the strategies (implementation).