The World Heart Federation (WHF)
is today launching a global petition, urging all countries to have a ‘National
Cardiovascular Action Plan’ to tackle heart disease, the world’s number one
killer. Improving cardiovascular health requires strategies that are tailored
to the national, regional, and local context, and must take the socioeconomic
environment and healthcare system into account, they argue.
Marking this year’s World Heart
Day with the petition launch, the WHF hopes the call to action will inspire a
more robust and coordinated response to cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is
responsible for more than 20.5 million deaths every year.
As many as 80% of these deaths
from heart attacks and strokes are preventable, but early findings by WHF show
that as few as 7% of countries have standalone plans or strategies to tackle
CVD.
In contrast, 87% of countries have already
developed National Cancer Action Plans, demonstrating the progress that must be
made to improve cardiovascular health.
So far, most of the countries with a
standalone National CVD Action Plan or Strategy in place are based in Europe
and the Western Pacific Region. The staggering number of deaths from heart
disease combined with scarce plans to tackle the disease, highlights the urgent
need for the remaining countries to develop tailored strategies to address
cardiovascular disease. For over two decades, WHF has been leading the World
Heart Day movement, which is celebrated every year on 29 September – raising
awareness about CVD, calling for better healthcare policies and more funding
for heart heath research.
This World Heart Day, WHF aims to secure over
a million signatures to send a strong message and urge elected leaders to make
a bold political declaration at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on
Non-Communicable Diseases in 2025. Jean-Luc Eiselé, Chief Executive of World
Heart Federation said: “Cardiovascular disease claims more lives than all forms
of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined yet e]orts to combat
CVD at a national level fall short almost everywhere in the world.
We have the knowledge and tools to
improve cardiovascular health outcomes and give everyone access to appropriate
care. “A National Cardiovascular Action Plan acts as a strategic tool to reduce
premature deaths from heart disease and stroke, while also cutting healthcare
costs and losses due to low productivity—in turn, saving hundreds of billions
of dollars annually worldwide.
“This World Heart Day, we encourage people all
over the world to sign our petition and send a powerful message to all
political leaders that an action plan is necessary to improve heart health and
prevent premature deaths caused by CVD. Nations need to develop tailored plans
to protect communities from the world’s biggest killer.” Sign the first-ever
global petition for health heart here: https://world-heart-federation.org/world-heart[1]day/petition
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