Programme

Aim: The session aims to examine how recent political and policy momentum for cardiovascular health in 2025 can be translated into concrete action, by identifying what must come next to strengthen national action plans, advance universal health coverage, secure sustainable financing, and improve prevention and access to care.

Aim: The aim of this session is to present key findings and insights from the World Heart Report 2026, focusing on congenital heart disease (CHD). The session will highlight the current global and regional burden of CHD and the impacts it has from birth throughout adulthood. It will also showcase successful evidence-based examples of policy interventions and the lived experiences of patients and families of those living with CHD, emphasizing the need for integrated screening, diagnostic and treatment strategies.

Aim: The session aims to explore how artificial intelligence can be used responsibly to strengthen public trust in digital cardiovascular health, address mis- and disinformation, and clarify the roles of governments and other stakeholders in digital ethics, while encouraging panellists to commit to concrete, practical actions to improve the reliability of digital health information over the coming year.

Aim: This session will examine how nutrition policy, food systems, and emerging innovations are shaping cardiovascular health outcomes worldwide. It will explore the roles of regulation, public policy, commercial actors, and medical interventions, and how new therapeutic developments can complement food and nutrition policies.

Aim: The session aims to highlight how cities can lead on cardiovascular disease prevention and equity through urban policies on mobility, air quality, urban design, access to services and city-level health systems, while inviting city leaders to commit to participation in the City Beat Index as a practical step to accelerate action and accountability.

Aim: The session aims to examine how declining development assistance and shifts in the global health architecture are reshaping the financing and sustainability of health systems in LMICs, and to explore how countries can respond by strengthening domestic health financing, rethinking priorities, and leveraging this transition as an opportunity to elevate historically underfunded issues within national health agendas.

Aim: The session aims to amplify the voices of the next generation of health professionals, explore how emerging challenges of the coming decade such as climate change and mental health are reshaping cardiovascular and public health priorities, and inspire concrete action and leadership from the young medical corps.

Aim: The session aims to spotlight innovative leaders and practical, scalable approaches to cardiovascular prevention and treatment that bridge science, service delivery, and policy, including a focus on solutions that address rare, neglected, and underserved cardiovascular conditions, including through telemedicine, AI-enabled care models, and system integration in LMICs.

Aim: The session aims to showcase how countries are scaling up hypertension control through concrete policy reforms, investments, and service delivery innovations, including efforts to address pregnancy-related hypertension and gender disparities in cardiovascular care, while encouraging ministers to highlight proven interventions and partnerships that have delivered measurable impact and can be replicated at scale.

Aim: The session aims to examine how environments, policies, and systemic factors shape population health behaviours, exploring strategies from behavioural “nudges” to fiscal measures like taxes that can drive meaningful cardiovascular health improvements at scale, while critically assessing whether current approaches risk treating symptoms rather than addressing underlying structural drivers.

Aim: This session will examine the global state of dyslipidaemia management and explore what is needed to translate recent progress into meaningful cardiovascular health gains. Dyslipidaemia remains a major cardiovascular risk factor, with high LDL-C responsible for over 30% of ischaemic heart disease. While momentum is building through initiatives such as WHO’s development of dyslipidaemia guidelines and the EU Safe Hearts call for expanded LDL-C testing and improved screening for Lp(a) and familial hypercholesterolaemia, persistent gaps in diagnosis, treatment, and health system capacity continue to limit impact – underscoring the need for coordinated, system-level action.

Aim: The session aims to explore how renewed global political commitments on NCDs, including cardiovascular disease, can be translated into measurable action, by strengthening accountability, national reporting, civil society engagement, and collaboration among global, regional, and national actors to ensure sustained implementation and real-world impact beyond the UN High-Level Meeting.