Health Indicators

The leading cause of death in the Philippines is ischemic heart disease, which killed approximately 87,900 people in 2012 and 50,500 people in 2017 (Sanchez, 2020; World Health Organization, 2012).  Ischemic heart disease, also called coronary artery disease and coronary heart disease, is a term given to conditions of the heart that are a result of narrowed heart arteries, resulting in less blood and oxygen reaching the heart muscle, which can lead to myocardial infarctions (American Heart Association, 2020).  There are many risk factors for the development of ischemic heart disease, which include, non-modifiable risk factors such as age, gender, and family history, and modifiable risk factors such as smoking, unhealthy diet, obesity, physical activity, and high blood pressure and cholesterol levels (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).

One reason why ischemic heart disease is so prevalent in the Philippines, is due to the diets of the Filipinos.  Filipinos consume a high amount of meat products, with pork being a fairly common choice (Sanchez, 2020).  A recent survey in the Philippines found that pork consumption in the Philippines was approximately 15.6 kilograms per capita in 2018 (Sanchez, 2020).  In addition, the survey found that only 7.4 percent of females and 7.9 percent of males consumed plant-based food and 16 percent do not consume any plant-based alternatives to animal food products (Sanchez, 2020).  According to CNN (Pineda & Lopez-Quimpo, 2016), the top four Filipino dishes that define the Philippines are adobo, lechon, sisig, and crispy pata, which are all traditional Filipino dishes that are made with pork. 

Another reason why ischemic heart disease is so prevalent in the Philippines, is due to the high usage of tobacco products in the country.  The tobacco industry in the Philippines has been described as “the strongest tobacco lobby in Asia”, with the Philippines being one of the highest per capital levels of cigarette consumption among the Association of South-East Asian Nations countries (Bellew et al., 2013).  According to a study, 28.3% (17.3 million Filipinos) of the adult population of the Philippines currently smoke tobacco products, with 47% being male and 9% being female (Bellew et al., 2013).  In addition, 48.8% (29.8 million) of people allowed smoking in their homes and 36.9% of adult workers reported exposure to second hand smoke in enclosed workplaces (Bellew et al., 2013).  Tobacco users in the Philippines is not limited to adults.  It is not uncommon to see young children and teenagers smoking in the Philippines.  An estimated 94,000 Filipino children between the ages of 10 and 14 years old, use tobacco products on a daily basis (American Cancer Society, 2020).  Tobacco-related diseases kills approximately 87,600 Filipinos in the Philippines every year, or approximately 10 every hour (Bellew et al., 2013).