Dr Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt Ltd, says heart diseases are becoming common across all age groups with the most being in their 30s or 40s.

He attributed the primary reasons to stress, lack of exercise, and unhealthy food habits apart from excessive smoking and drinking.

Dr Ballal addressing journalists and health professionals across the world to mark this year's World Heart Day virtually said modifying lifestyles at an early age by keeping their cholesterol levels under check and undergoing regular health check-ups were key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

He noted that India was currently witnessing nearly 2 million heart attacks a year with majority of the victims being youngsters, "which is not a healthy trend. Current projections are a wake-up call for all of us towards adopting a healthy lifestyle."

The international virtual workshop was orgainsed by Manipal Hospital, India, a multi-specialty facility on the theme: "Guardians of the Heart".

This year's global theme was; "Use Heart to Connect." It focused on the need to harness the power of digital health to improve awareness, prevention, and management of CVD globally.

The virtual workshop was attended participants from Ghana Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Maldives, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

It was to educate, inspire and motivate people to have a healthy heart and to spread awareness on the importance of a healthy heart.

Dr Ballal noted that the virtual workshop will be ongoing for the next three to six months to educate people on the importance of keeping the heart hale and hearty especially keeping in mind the current alarming situation of cardiac health among youngsters.

He explained that educating people on how to have a nutritious diet and taking care of the heart while staying at home was critical amidst COVID-19.

Mr Affail Monney, President of the Ghana Journalists Association speaking at the event said, "Considering the rising incidences and higher morbidity of heart failure patients, there is a need for dedicated workshops like this, to provides end-to-end comprehensive education and spreads awareness on heart diseases".

He called for the need for all to be committed to creating awareness on major lifestyle diseases that will potentially affect the common man and ensure that the hearts of people were healthy.

Dr Yogal Sharma Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, said; "We hope to harness the power of digital connectivity by creating conversations around awareness, prevention, and management of Cardiovascular diseases globally.

" Telehealth is playing a huge role as we continue to use to beat CVD. Manipal Hospitals promise to make Heart Heroes through the workshop and we believe that with knowledge, compassion, and influence, we can make hearts healthy".

The aim of the workshop was to make people aware of different ways of keeping the heart healthy while staying at home as digital health is the need of the hour.

World Heart Day is observed every year on September 29 to increase awareness about cardiovascular illnesses, heart diseases, and brain strokes.

Approximately 17 million people die each year from heart disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The day is observed to raise public awareness about the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

According to the World Heart Federation, cardiovascular diseases are accountable for nearly half of all non-communicable diseases which makes it the leading cause of loss of lives every year. It should be noted here that this international observance is attended by nearly 90 countries every year.