7 WORLD GASTROENTEROLOGY NEWS AUGUST 2015 Editorial | Expert Point of View | Gastro 2015: AGW/WGO | WDHD News | WGO & WGOF News | WGO Global Guidelines | Calendar of Events World Digestive Health Day 2015 Heartburn: A Global Perspective WDHD 2015 events have so far been celebrated in over 20 countries, with many events still scheduled to take place this year! We are at the half way point and look forward to continu-ing the celebration in the second half of 2015. WGO thanks each member society, organization, healthcare pro-fessional, and participant for helping spread the word about the manage-ment of heartburn. There is still time to plan your 2015 event around Heartburn: A Global Perspective! While the official date of WDHD is May 29th, many events take place throughout the year. Past events include public campaigns, courses and lectures on treatments of the current theme, marathons, walkathons, national meetings, press conferences, television and radio interviews, creating a country’s own WDHD Day, publications, and much more. For questions regarding WDHD or to officially submit your event for placement on the calendar, please email info@worldgastroenterology. org. Please also visit the WDHD 2015 website to request a copy of the 2015 WDHD logo for use in promot-ing this year’s WDHD campaign. With events continuing to take place through the end of 2015, we are pleased to feature summaries from a few WDHD 2015 events that have recently taken place! For a full list of events taking place in celebration of WDHD 2015, visit http://www.wgofoundation.org/ WDHD-2015-Events. Have you held a 2015 WDHD event that you would like to share on the website or in e- WGN? Please submit your event here! World Digestive Health Day in Brazil Joaquim Prado Pinto de Moraes-Filho, MD, FACP, FACG Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine Department of Gastroenterology University of Sao Paulo, School of Medicine Sao Paulo, Brazil Heartburn, the burning sensation in the chest, related to food, is consid-ered one of the cardinal symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The prevalence of GERD is increasing throughout the world, ranging from 2.5% to 6.6% in Asia up to 13.8 to 25.8% in North America. In Brazil, a prevalence study together with DataFolha indicated that 12% of the surveyed individuals had heartburn at least twice weekly, suggesting a di-agnosis of GERD; taking into account other disorders, said atypical, such as cough, cough, sore throat, the preva-lence of disease in our country can reach about 20% of the population. The reason for the increased prevalence of GERD is not fully understood, but seems to be correlated with the increase in obesity and eating habits. This disease is associated with a significant impact on quality of life and reduction of personal and vocational productivity, and be associated with an increased risk of Barrett’s esophagus, a pre-malignant condition that can progress to esophageal adenocarci-noma. Fortunately, GERD can usually be treated safely and effectively with drugs, while still having the option for anti-reflux surgery in some cases. The World Gastroenterology Organ-isation (WGO) seeks to raise awareness about the importance of heartburn for both the lay public and for health pro-fessionals, through a global campaign known as World Digestive Health Day. This goal will be achieved through the development of educational materi-als and training around the world, in collaboration with all WGO Member Societies and their regional associations. The Brazilian Federation of Gastro-enterology (FBG) joins this important action, warning people to pay more attention when the presence of this symptom, and, if necessary, consult a doctor for further information. On May 31 in Villa Lobos Park in São Paulo, from 08:00 to 17:00, the FBG distributed informative materials to the public about digestive diseases. FBG in the News (World Digestive Health Day campaign - TV Globo of Alagoas) Dr. James Ramalho, Vice President of the FBG, spoke about Heartburn in an interview with Good Morning Alagoas. Click here to view.
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