From evidence to action: The World Heart Federation launches the Framework for National Cardiovascular Health Plans
Every 34 seconds, someone dies from cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death. Not from a mystery illness or something science hasn’t solved but from a condition we know how to prevent, detect and treat and have known how for decades.
CVD claims nearly one in three deaths worldwide. That number should shock us more than it does, particularly as it hasn’t moved nearly enough in a generation, not for lack of evidence, but for lack of action at the scale this crisis demands.
CVD is the number one among non-communicable diseases (NCDs). We are long past the point where fragmented efforts or a footnote in broader health strategies will do. CVD is not given the prominence and priority needed in the national non-communicable disease (NCDs) plans – important as those plans are. Without the specificity it needs, without dedicated targets, financing, implementation mechanisms or accountability. The result is a disease claiming more lives than any other condition and is too frequently treated as an afterthought in the very plans meant to stop it.
Let’s be clear about where the real gap lies. It is not lack of evidence; rather, it is lack of implementation of available and affordable actions. The interventions that save lives already exist and they are cost-effective, proven, ready to implement. On top of that, they generate a return of up to eight dollars for every dollar invested. Governments now need the political will, the financing and the mechanisms to put what we already know into practice, at national scale.
This is why the World Heart Federation is launching the Framework for National Cardiovascular Health Plans, a practical, ready-to-use tool that helps governments strengthen the cardiovascular component of the national health or NCD strategies they already have or develop a dedicated cardiovascular health plan
WHF’s Framework for national Cardiovascular Health Plans is to support policyshapers and decisionmakers in sharpening priorities, defining measurable objectives, including evidence-based interventions and establishing the implementation and monitoring mechanisms that turn plans into positive health outcomes for the population.
“Cardiovascular disease has hidden in plain sight within our NCD agendas for too long,” said Dr Bente Mikkelsen, Chair of the WHF’s Advocacy Committee. “With this Framework, governments finally have a concrete tool to close the gap between what we know and what we do, to make sure cardiovascular health gets the priority, financing and accountability it demands.”
Coordinated action across prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and long-term care, backed by governance, financing, data systems and accountability, is the only path to bending the curve on premature CVD deaths. The Framework gives countries a roadmap to bring these pieces together into one unified national response.
The evidence is already in our hands. Now is the moment to act on it.