In April of 2010, a report released by the Institute of Medicine, titled “Promoting Cardiovascular Health in the Developing World: A Critical Challenge to Achieve Global Health” , reaffirmed the importance of the work we do in Kenya.  The report notes, as we have in previous reports, that while the behaviors needed to reduce cardiovascular risk factors (eating healthy, being active, avoiding tobacco, and seeking regular health care) appear simple, understanding how to adapt this for a different continent is a far more complex job.  In communities in both urban and rural Kenya, socioeconomic and environmental factors prevent people from getting access to quality medical care, and lifestyles are drastically different. In addition, we have found that simply blaming the increase in cardiovascular/metabolic disease on increased westernization is overly simplistic.  Clearly, this shows the need to develop a specifically Kenyan cardiovascular disease management model.
To be comprehensive, a cardiovascular disease prevention and control program must integrate policies designed to foster a societal environment in which people are encouraged to make and maintain healthy living choices, and provide health services focused on early detection and cost-effective strategies (Hunter, D. & Reddy, K., 2013).