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Advancing Cardiovascular Health Across the Life Course

WHF Communications department
Topics: Well-Being and Health Promotion
World Health Organization flag

This constituency statement was delivered by WHF under Agenda Item 9 – Ageing Is Living: A Strategy for Promoting a Lifetime of Health and Well-Being in the WHO European Region 2026-2030 – at the Seventy-Sixth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe.

Honourable Chair,

Distinguished Delegates,

The World Heart Federation and the European Heart Network commend the recognition of noncommunicable diseases and cardiovascular health in the Strategy.

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in Europe, with age being its most significant non-modifiable risk factor. Nonetheless, equitable access to essential NCD and cardiovascular interventions across the full continuum of care – from prevention to early diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care – can help people live longer, healthier lives.

Prioritizing health promotion and disease prevention across the life-course is essential to reduce the burden of heart disease and promote healthy ageing. As such, we call on Member States to adopt and implement the Strategy and its draft decision. In particular:

  • Strengthen primary healthcare and universal health coverage to build resilient systems that ensure continuous and equitable access to affordable, high-quality NCD and cardiovascular interventions;
  • Address the social, economic, environmental, and commercial determinants of health to create healthier environments that support healthy ageing; and
  • Develop or strengthen national cardiovascular health plans, in line with the EU Safe Hearts Plan initiative, to secure sustainable funding and expand access to care, drawing from WHF’s Framework for a Cardiovascular Health Action Plan. 

WHF and EHN welcome the Strategy’s life-course approach, which acknowledges that cardiovascular disease can also begin in childhood, with lifelong implications for health and well-being. In that context, we invite Member States to support the proposed WHA resolution on Childhood-Onset Heart Disease in 2027.

Thank you.