Next year the first programme for preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVD) will be presented in Macedonia, Health Minister Nikola Todorov said Saturday at the park of Skopje municipality Gjorce Petrov, where teams of the Public Health Institute organized free check ups in honor the World Heart Day - September 29.

CVDs are the leading cause of deaths in Macedonia, claiming last year over 11.000 lives or about 59,2 percent of the 2011 mortality rate, Todorov said.

Hence the Government believes that Macedonia needs such programme, which has been already drafted by the Public Health Institute and is to be adopted in 2013, Todorov said.

The programme is focused on promoting prevention, namely healthy life style, such as diet and physical activity.

Today, the citizens of Macedonia's capital were offered an opportunity to get complimentary assessments which include random blood cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and Body Mass Index (BMI) measurements, as well as textbooks with recommendations for healthy heart.

World Heart Day is held each year on 29 September and is dedicated to informing people around the globe that heart disease and stroke are the world's leading cause of death. In 2012, as in 2011, the day's theme is 'One World, One Home, One Heart'.

Cardiovascular diseases are the world's largest killers, claiming 17.3 million lives a year. Risk factors for heart disease and stroke include raised blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels, smoking, inadequate intake of fruit and vegetables, overweight, obesity and physical inactivity.