Belarusians rank first in the region in mortality from heart and vascular diseases

Despite the opening of new cardiology centers and an increase in the number of high-tech interventions, Belarus remains one of the European countries with the highest mortality from heart and vascular diseases. According to international data, Belarusians die from cardiovascular diseases 3.5 times more often than Germans and more than twice as often as Poles. At the same time, about a third of patients with myocardial infarction still do not have access to treatment that has long been standard in EU countries.

New hospital in Grodno. Illustrative photo: Grodnenskaya Pravda

These conclusions are contained in an independent review of the Belarusian healthcare system, prepared by activists of the independent medical trade union with the support of the BYMEDSOL Medical Solidarity Fund of Belarus and the "White Coats" project.

According to data from the World Heart Federation and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, in 2021, 133 people per 100,000 population died from heart and vascular diseases (CVD) in Germany, 218 in Poland, 303 in Lithuania, 330 in Latvia, and 395 in Russia. Belarus, with a figure of 467, topped this list.

Source: review materials

However, the problem, as noted by the authors of the study, is not limited to high mortality. Official Belarusian statistics show significant differences in cardiovascular disease indicators between regions.

For example, the overall incidence of coronary heart disease in 2025 in the Brest region was almost twice as high as in the Vitebsk region, and the number of new cases of circulatory system diseases in Minsk more than doubled the figure for the Mogilev region.

The overall incidence of cerebrovascular diseases in the Vitebsk region was 2.4 times higher than in the Mogilev region, and the number of new cases of unstable angina in the Gomel region was almost 2.5 times higher than in the Minsk region.

For a country with a unified healthcare system, such discrepancies seem unusual. They may indicate varying quality of diagnosis and dispensary observation, problems with statistical recording, or insufficient detection of diseases in certain regions. In other words, some patients may simply not be included in official statistics in a timely manner.

However, even the officially recorded indicators point to another problem — the limited availability of high-tech cardiological care.

Comparison with neighboring countries shows that modern cardiological procedures, necessary for the diagnosis and treatment of severe heart diseases, are performed significantly less frequently in Belarus.

According to the calculations of the study's authors, in 2025, approximately 4.2 thousand coronarographies per million inhabitants were performed in Belarus. This is slightly more than in Russia (3.1-3.7 thousand), but significantly less than in EU countries: in Poland, this figure exceeded 6.3 thousand, in Latvia it was more than 7 thousand, and in Lithuania and Germany it approached 9.5 and 9.1 thousand, respectively.

An even more noticeable lag is observed in the number of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) — procedures used to restore blood flow in narrowed or blocked coronary arteries. In Belarus, about 2 thousand such interventions per million people were performed in 2025, which approximately corresponds to the Russian level (1.9-2.2 thousand). In Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Germany, this indicator was almost twice as high — from 3.6 to 4.4 thousand per million population.

Table. Comparison of the number of high-tech interventions for acute cardiac pathology by country

Source: review materials

In recent years, authorities have been trying to rectify the situation by opening new cardio-endovascular centers in the regions. Such facilities have already appeared in Brest, Zhlobin, Volkovysk, Lida, Krichev, and Mogilev, with several more planned for opening.

However, access to modern treatment remains limited. In 2025, only 68.3% of patients with infarction (myocardial infarction) were able to receive percutaneous coronary intervention. For comparison, in Poland and Germany, about 90-95% of patients receive such care.

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