World Thrombosis Day Participates in Global Week for Action on NDCs

The World Thrombosis Day campaign is participating in the second Global Week for Action on NDCs, from Sept. 2-8. Led by the NCD Alliance, of which the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostatis (ISTH) is a member, the global community is mobilizing to speak out and urge governments to act on commitments to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which remain the #1 cause of disability and death worldwide every year.

Currently, more than 50 percent of countries are not on track to reach the goal of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by 2030. This year’s Global Week of Action focuses on “Ensuring Healthy Lives for All: NCDs and Universal Health Coverage (UHC)” – leading up to the first United Nations High-Level Meeting on UHC to be held on Sept. 23.

With one in four people worldwide dying from conditions related to thrombosis, it will be impossible to reach the World Health Assembly’s global target of reducing premature deaths from non-communicable diseases by 30% by 2030.

Thrombosis, commonly referred to as blood clots, can trigger a host of life-threatening medical conditions, including heart attack, stroke and venous thromboembolism (VTE). In VTE, one or more blood clots form in a deep vein, most often in the leg (deep vein thrombosis), and can travel to the lungs to block the blood and oxygen supply (a condition known as pulmonary embolism, PE). About one-third of people with undetected and untreated PE die.

World Thrombosis Day (WTD), a year-long campaign culminating on October 13, aims to increase public, healthcare professional and health care systems’ awareness of thrombosis and, ultimately, to reduce deaths and disabilities from thromboembolic disease through a greater awareness of its causes, risk factors, signs and symptoms, and evidence-based prevention and treatment.

Join World Thrombosis Day in the global movement to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases by visiting EnoughNCDS.com. While there, go the extra mile and add your voice and actions to the global Map of Impact. And don’t forget to join us in October for World Thrombosis Day (WorldThrombosisDay.org).