World Heart Federation: Heart Beat October/November 2007

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2007

HIGHLIGHTS

World Heart Federation identifies low-income countries' major cardiovascular issues at European Cardiology Congress

The World Heart Federation and the European Society of Cardiology held a joint symposium at the latter’s annual congress 1-5 September 2007 in Vienna, Austria. The symposium was entitled “Major cardiovascular disease issues in developing countries”. Presenters included World Heart Federation President Shahryar Sheikh, immediate Past President Valentin Fuster and Chairman of the Scientific Council on Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease Jonathan Carapetis.

Scientific Advisory Board holds meeting in Vienna

The World Heart Federation’s Scientific Advisory Board met on 2 September 2007 during the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2007 in Vienna, Austria. The board focused on its relationship with the continental societies of cardiology, nominations to scientific councils and potential research opportunities.

IN THIS ISSUE

Polypill one-day update meeting held in New York

Valentin Fuster, Scientific President of the Spanish Centre for Cardiovascular Research and Head of clinical and research cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, chaired a meeting of 20 scientists and corporate representatives for the purpose of sharing information on the various initiatives to develop a polypill.

Sesame Workshop celebrates World Heart Day in Bogota, Colombia

Elmo, Lola and the beloved Muppets of Plaza Sésamo stole the show at the World Heart Day celebration in Bogotá this year. The child-friendly event was organized through Plaza Sésamo Healthy Habits for Life, the Sesame Workshop/World Heart Federation project in Colombia that produces multimedia materials promoting healthy eating and exercise habits to pre-schoolers.

New WHO advocacy toolkit advances fight against chronic diseases

The World Health Organization has produced and is disseminating a powerful advocacy toolkit to intensify the fight against cardiovascular disease and the other chronic diseases, which, together, are the world’s biggest killers, accounting for 60% of all deaths.

“Working towards wellness” initiative holds chronic disease prevention workshop in China

The World Economic Forum and the World Health Organization held a two-day meeting in China to advance their Working Towards Wellness initiative, which is designed to encourage corporate leaders to enlist in the fight against cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases through employee wellness. As the lead health-related nongovernmental organization in the multi-stakeholder effort, with prominent places on both the initiative’s steering and advisory boards, the World Heart Federation played a particularly active role.

Latin American youth for a smoke-free region

Latin American youths active in tobacco control drafted the “Declaration of Latin American and Caribbean Youths in Favour of Tobacco-Free Lives” when they met in Rio de Janeiro at the regional tobacco control conference held there September 5-7.

Hassell urges workers to adopt healthy lifestyles

World Heart Federation Vice President Trevor Hassell urged workers in Barbados to adopt healthy lifestyle changes as a means to prevent the country’s “scourge” of cardiovascular disease and other chronic non-communicable diseases.

World Heart Federation and Geneva University Hospitals introduce World Heart Day to international journalists

The World Heart Federation teamed up with the Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland) for a media launch of World Heart Day 2007. The event took place on 17 September 2007 aboard the University Hospitals’ Bus Santé (Health Bus), which serves as the mobile epidemiological observatory for the Swiss canton of Geneva.

World Heart Day 2007 urges “Team up for healthy hearts!”

World Heart Day 2007 was an enormous success both in terms of numbers of participants and their enthusiasm for heightening awareness of the simple and cost-effective habits that people can adopt to prevent and control cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases virtually absent from Clinton Global Initiative agenda

The virtual absence of cardiovascular disease and the other chronic diseases from the agenda of the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting was a disappointing departure from last year’s event, where they had figured prominently.