Worldwide, the aging population, globalization, rapid
urbanization, and population growth have fundamentally
changed disease patterns. Noncommunicable diseases
(NCDs), of which cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for
nearly half, have overtaken communicable diseases as the
world’s major disease burden. CVD remains the No. 1 global
cause of death, accounting for 17.3 million deaths per year, a
number that is expected to grow to 23.6 million by 2030.
Increasingly, the populations affected are those in low- and
middle-income countries, where 80% of these deaths occur,
usually at younger ages than in higher-income countries, and
where the human and financial resources to address them are
most limited.1
The epidemiological transition occurring is exacerbated by
the lack of vital investment in sustainable health policies to
address and curtail the risk factors associated with CVD and
NCDs. Recognizing the profound mismatch between the need
for investment in the prevention and control of CVD at the
global and national level and the actual resources allocated,
the international CVD community, under the umbrella of the
World Heart Federation, joined the NCD community to call
for a United Nations (UN) High-level Meeting on Noncommunicable
Diseases, held in September 2011. At this
meeting, heads of state signed a Political Declaration that
committed governments to the development of 4 specific
measures to address the NCD burden in a specific timeline:
(1) Recommendations for a global monitoring framework that
included NCD targets to be completed by the end of 2012; (2)
development of a plan for an effective multisector partnership
by the end of 2012; (3) national NCD plans by 2013; and (4)
a comprehensive review to evaluate progress, to take place in
2014
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