The importance of cardiovascular research in Africa today.

Cardiovascular disorders currently receive little or no attention in most African countries. Projections based on recent studies suggest that the management of these disorders will represent a major challenge for the over-extended and shrinking health budgets of these poor nations in the very near future. Given the prevalence of such common cardiovascular conditions as hypertension, which in some cases can be 25% or higher, treatment is beyond the budgetary possibilities of any of these countries. Other conditions--including infections involving the heart and related structures, rheumatic fever and its complications, cardiomyopathies, and congenital heart disease--are also common, taken together, and recent trends suggest that ischemic heart disease may be less uncommon than was previously thought. Health planners and policy makers must be educated on the crucial role of health research in general, and cardiovascular research in particular, as a basis for formulating a rational health care policy and making managerial decisions. The needs for training and funding, and especially the leadership required to develop and sustain research activity, will require a multidisciplinary, multidirectional, collaborative approach at national and international levels, as well as firm local commitment. As is the case for most other important health problems, cardiovascular disorders are rapidly becoming a global issue and should be recognized as such.