'Global epidemic' of heart attack and stroke being missed Professor Sir Nicholas Wald, director of the Wolfson Institute for Preventive Medicine, said everybody over 50 should take the pill because it substantially lowered death rates from both causes. Speaking at a pharmacists" seminar in London, he said cardiovascular disease had become "a global epidemic" affecting rich and poor countries alike. "We are failing to recognise the importance of the problem - and our ability to prevent it," he said. While UK death rates from heart attack and strokes are declining, and so not in an epidemic phase, they are still among the biggest causes of death. Two-thirds of the 250,000 annual heart attacks in England and Wales could be prevented if all over 50s took the polypill, said Prof Wald. A trial last year indicated those who benefitted would on average gain 11.5 more years of healthy life by avoiding such an event, he added. No polypill has yet been approved for use in Britain. "I think the whole healthcare profession - including the Department of Health - needs to galvanise on this," he said.