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I am indeed very pleased to once again attend the opening of the Conference of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology, and to publicly express my appreciation for the work that has been carried out by this Society, for several decades, on behalf of the health of the Portuguese.

Cardiovascular diseases continue being, amongst us, the main cause of death, apart from the very important cause, that we cannot ever neglect, of temporary disability and suffering for many Portuguese and their families.

For these reasons I want to manifest, before anything else, my gratitude to all the Health professionals who, in addition to exercising this medico-surgical speciality, also confer special attention on the education and prevention of cerebral-cardiovascular disease.

It has been known, for some time, that living habits and standards of behaviour are essential for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. I have often insisted on the need, in Portuguese society, for a clearer conscience and a better informed perception of the risks associated to sedentary living, smoking, obesity, excessive alcohol intake, immoderate salt intake and even the lack of regular health control.

As far as I am concerned, I endeavour to adopt a healthy life style and I was thus very pleased when, a very short while ago, I read an interview given by my personal physician in the Presidency of the Republic, Dr. Daniel de Matos, where he jokingly confessed that, with me, he ran the risk of becoming unemployed.

Naturally, we do not wish for unemployment in the medical profession. What we do want, in effect, is that the people become more conscious of the risk factors existing in a disease with such high mortality rates. It is crucial that the Portuguese are aware of and understand that it was not by chance that the World Health Organization chose, this year, the theme of hypertension as the focus of worldwide debate.

I am also pleased due to the fact that both the authorities and civil society are now starting to become more conscious that there is still a long way to go. In effect, and as the Society of Cardiology has been alerting, we are far from exhausting the potential for the prevention of the cerebral-cardiovascular diseases. We know that approximately half of these diseases, in persons aged less than 30 years, are attributable to the lack of control of blood pressure, 31 per cent to excess of cholesterol and 14 per cent to tobacco smoke.

Keeping regular track of blood pressure, abandoning the tobacco smoking habit, the change in eating habits and cholesterol control could, undeniably, significantly reduce the incidence of such diseases.

There is already a fair amount of information but it is necessary to provide a lot more. Immediately, by deepening the knowledge of these diseases amongst the medical profession, the researchers and the health professionals. Following this, to sensitize public opinion through actions and campaigns with great impact. Here again, the Society of Cardiology carries out notable work. The Society’s site receives an average of 40,000 visits per month, which refer to two million pages per year. The credibility of this Institution guarantees, to those who are aware of its work, the access to reliable, detailed and independent information. It ensures that all Portuguese are enabled to know which options they must take to better defend their lives, since this is effectively the issue: to defend life against a death that, in a fair measure, could be avoided.

Experience shows that preventive measures are beneficial and that such measures must be taken up in all ages, but it is in the younger age brackets that the education towards a healthier life style obtais, naturally, better results.

It is thus necessary to especially call the attention of younger people to the preventive measures, since they are not often awake to the high risks associated to the excessive use of alcohol or to the smoking habit.

The topic chosen for this XXXIV Conference – “the evidence, the practice and the policies” – reveals the drive behind the pursuance of good professional practices and in the search for a correlation between scientific proof, medical practice and Health policies. It is through this interdisciplinary correlation that it will be possible to improve, both in prevention and in therapy, the effectiveness of the combat against cardiovascular diseases.

All the participants in this Conference are, it may be asserted, fighters for the lives of the Portuguese.

I am thus honoured to greet you and to wish you the best of success in this Encounter and in your work.

Thank you very much.