Today a very important health policy statement was released from the Global Cardiovascular Disease Taskforce, a group of experts representing the ACCF, World Heart Federation, American Heart Association, European Heart Network and European Society of Cardiology, and include ACC Past President David Holmes, MD, MACC, and myself. The jointly released health policy statement urges timely global action to save preventable death from cardiovascular disease (CVD).

The statement is timely and was released on the one year anniversary of the United Nations High-level meeting on non-communicable diseases (read my blog post from last year’s meeting here).  We are calling on government and the cardiovascular community to accelerate the progress on the commitments made last year and support the ten evidence-based targets, including the top four exposure targets on physical activity, tobacco, dietary salt intake and hypertension/blood pressure. By focusing on these top four targets, the goal is to achieve the following by 2025:

• A 10 percent relative reduction in prevalence of insufficient physical activity in adults aged 18+ years;
• A 30 percent relative reduction in prevalence of current tobacco smoking;
• A 30 percent relative reduction in mean adult (aged 18+) population intake of salt, with aim of achieving recommended level of less than 5 grams per day; and
• A 25 percent relative reduction in prevalence of raised blood pressure.

We all agree that this first step is imperative if we are to achieve the overarching goal of a 25 percent reduction in mortality from non-communicable diseases by 2015, a goal that was determined this past May at the 65th World Health Assembly in Geneva.

The ACC is calling upon its members to take this statement to heart. With CVD costing governments nearly $863 billion globally, and the number of deaths related to CVD expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030, the consequences will be astronomical if we are not successful at curbing these preventable deaths. Read more about the statement on CardioSource.org.

A spotlight will be on cardiovascular disease during World Heart Day on Sept. 29, and the College and other stakeholders worldwide are participating in activities focused on prevention for women and children. More information on ACC World Heart Day activities is posted on both the ACC and CardioSmart Facebook pages.