Our time: a call to save preventable death from cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke)

Worldwide, the aging population, globalization, rapid urbanization,\nand population growth have fundamentally changed disease patterns.\nNoncommunicable diseases (NCDs), of which cardiovascular\ndisease (CVD) accounts for nearly half, have overtaken\ncommunicable diseases as the world’s major disease burden.\nCVD remains the No. 1 global cause of death, accounting for\n17.3 million deaths per year, a number that is expected to grow\nto .23.6 million by 2030. Increasingly, the populations affected\nare those in low- and middle-income countries, where 80% of\nthese deaths occur, usually at younger ages than in higher-income\ncountries, and where the human and financial resources to address\nthem are most limited.1\nThe epidemiological transition occurring is exacerbated by the\nlack of vital investment in sustainable health policies to address\nand curtail the risk factors associated with CVD and NCDs.\nRecognizing the profound mismatch between the need for investment\nin the prevention and control of CVD at the global and national\nlevel and the actual resources allocated, the international\nCVD community, under the umbrella of the World Heart Federation,\njoined the NCD community to call for a United Nations\n(UN) High-level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases, held\nin September 2011. At this meeting, heads of state signed a Political\nDeclaration that committed governments to the development of 4\nspecific measures to address the NCD burden in a specific\ntimeline: (1) Recommendations for a global monitoring framework\nthat included NCD targets to be completed by the end of\n2012; (2) development of a plan for an effective multisector\npartnership by the end of 2012; (3) national NCD plans by\n2013; and (4) a comprehensive review to evaluate progress, to\ntake place in 2014.2