Latest News

2017 marks the fourth year of the World Heart Federation Emerging Leaders programme and focuses on access to essential medicines for cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including heart disease and stroke. Despite the availability for decades of evidence-based medicines to prevent and treat CVD, their use is still very low. Access to essential CVD medicines is worryingly […]

A Healthy Heart Your Goal: Join the #MatchFitWoman challenge ahead of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 The World Heart Federation is partnering with UEFA, the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), and the Healthy Stadia network to promote heart health and fight against cardiovascular disease ahead of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2017. […]

Dilys Kemunto is a medical student at Moi University and a member of the Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network (YP-CDN) in Eldoret, a city in Uasin Gishu county in Western Kenya. She and a group of her fellow students have recently created a programme to raise awareness around rheumatic heart disease locally and to support […]

From 22-31 May, the World Heart Federation participated in the 70th World Health Assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland. In addition to attending policy discussions, the WHF co-sponsored two side events, which were among the 26 NCD-themed meetings taking place alongside the Assembly. From a packed agenda spanning 10 days and featuring discussions on a wide […]

On 01 June 2017, the Executive Board of the World Health Organization recommended a Resolution on ‘Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease’ for adoption at the 71st World Health Assembly in 2018. Once adopted by the full World Health Assembly after further discussions in May next year, the Resolution will represent the first global commitment […]

Early Action aims to radically transform the world’s approach to Type 2 diabetes. This multi-year initiative is committed to translating evidence into practical policies for strengthening prevention, early detection, early control and early access to the right interventions. The Early Action journey began in 2015 and has since spread to more than 35 countries […]

In a statement to the World Health Assembly on Monday 29 May, the World Heart Federation and NCD Alliance called on Member States to make the third UN High-Level Meeting on non-communicable diseases (HLM 2018) a strategic priority. The meeting will be held next year in New York City. Describing NCDs as the ‘social […]

The World Health Organization hosted a side event at the World Health Assembly on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day. Held annually on 31 May, the day’s key themes are to protect health, reduce poverty and promote development. The event featured panelists from the governments of Panama, Italy and the Philippines, as well as […]

Today marks the opening of the 70th World Health Assembly (WHA), one of the highlights of the global health calendar. At this annual conference, Ministers of Health, civil society and World Health Organization (WHO) experts will meet to discuss the most pressing health issues of our time, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). As President of […]

In her final address to the World Health Assembly as Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Margaret Chan addressed the importance of engaging all partners to the future of public health. In a powerful speech in which she reflected on developments in public health over the past decade, Dr Chan also refuted claims that the […]

The power of football to positively impact on the health of fans, local communities and stadium workforces was the clear message delivered by clubs, associations and stadium operators to over 200 delegates at the fourth European Healthy Stadia Conference held at Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium on Thursday 27th April. The Conference celebrated 10 […]