Tiny Hearts of Maldives Launches Website, Introduces Heart Age Assessment Tool
Chairperson of Tiny Hearts of the Maldives, Jeehan Mahmood speaking during the launch ceremony. | Photo: MV+
Tiny Hearts of Maldives has launched its official website, introducing a new heart age assessment tool to raise awareness on cardiovascular health and encourage early intervention.
The ceremony to launch the website was held in Male’ yesterday. The event was attended by the NGOs founders Hishmath Faiz and Ali Muaz, along with the organizations board members, executive members of other active health related NGOs in the Maldives, as well as the Director General of the Health Protection Agency (HPA), Ibrahim Nishan Ahmed.
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The tool, based on the Framingham Heart Study and World Health Organization (WHO) cardiovascular risk assessment frameworks, allows users to estimate the biological age of their heart by entering health information, including cholesterol levels, blood pressure and other relevant indicators. The organisation said the assessment can help individuals understand their cardiovascular risk and take steps towards improving heart health.
The launch coincided with Tiny Hearts of Maldives marking its 17th anniversary, with the organisation reiterating its goal of promoting heart health awareness and ensuring children born with heart conditions receive timely detection and care.
Tiny Hearts of Maldives’ chairperson, Jeehan Mahmood, highlighted that heart conditions remain a leading cause of non-communicable disease (NCD) deaths in the Maldives. She noted that congenital heart conditions affect approximately one in every 100 children born in the country, placing the Maldives among countries with a high prevalence of such conditions.
Heart conditions can often act as silent killers, said Jeehan, as many cases are only identified after the condition has progressed. She highlighted gaps in early detection, including cases where newborns are discharged without being screened for possible heart conditions.
She also shared findings from a survey conducted amongst hospitals and health centres across the Maldives, along with the Ministry of Health, on the implementation of a newborn heart screening protocol established in 2018. Highlighting the gaps in protocol in screening for cardiovascular conditions, she said the survey found that 60 per cent of hospitals were unaware of the screening protocol, while 35 per cent were aware of it but were not implementing it.
Speaking at the event, HPA DG Ibrahim Nishan Ahmed highlighted the importance of improving lifestyle habits to address growing health challenges in the Maldives.
He said the current lifestyle pattern in the Maldives often follows a repetitive routine of working, remaining physically inactive, consuming unhealthy food, staying up late and repeating the same cycle. He added that national statistics indicate the Maldivian population is moving towards an ageing demographic, making it important for people to adopt healthier lifestyles to ensure they age in better health.
In this regard, Ibrahim Nishan commended Tiny Hearts of Maldives for its efforts to promote heart health awareness and prevention. He said initiatives such as the newly launched heart age calculator could contribute towards encouraging people to monitor their health and make necessary lifestyle changes.
As part of its anniversary initiatives, Tiny Hearts of Maldives also announced plans to donate baby pulse oximeters to regional and atoll hospitals to strengthen early screening and detection of heart conditions among newborns. The organisation said the initiative aims to support healthcare facilities in identifying congenital heart conditions at an earlier stage.
