National forum for heart disease and stroke prevention 2008

At the nexus of heart disease and stroke prevention

ProCor is among 80 national and international organizations participating in the Sixth Annual National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention in Washington, DC, USA. The National Forum was established in 2003 to implement the Public Health Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke, a framework that guides health practitioners' and policymakers' activities to promote heart health locally, regionally, and globally (download the action plan at www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/library/action_plan/index.htm).

The conference began on Wednesday, 26 March with a full day of working meetings of the Forum's Implementation Groups. Dr. Brian Bilchik, Director of ProCor, is Vice-Chair of the communication group, which has developed a new logo and website for the Forum (www.hearthealthystrokefree.org). Dr. Vikas Saini, President of the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation, and Dr. Arun Chockalingam, Chair of ProCor's International Advisory Committee, participated in discussions of the Action Priorities group. Dr. Chockalingam is also Vice-Chair of the Regional and Global Partnerships group which meets on Friday.

On Thursday, Dr. Bilchik introduced a dynamic plenary session that demonstrated approaches to heart disease and stroke prevention among diverse sectors of society—volunteer-based activities (Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia, www.heartandstroke.ns.ca), mass media (Norman Lear Center's Hollywood, Health & Society Project, www.learcenter.org), businesses (National Business Coalition on Health, www.nbch.org), faith-based organizations (Church of God in Christ, www.cogic.org), and advocacy (Center for Science in the Public Interest, www.cspinet.org).

Panelists described a vast variety of activities undertaken within their respective sectors that illustrated the diverse and complementary potential of approaches to heart health beyond the traditional health care and public health sectors. For example, Jane Farquharson shared the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia's efforts to promote community planning that impress health. In a region of Canada in which, in 2005, 55% of the population was not engaged in healthy levels of physical activity, her team worked with business and community partners to create a built environment that encourages walking www.walkaboutns.ca).

The conference also provides an opportunity for ProCor's team to meet face-to-face with colleagues who are part of our electronic global community as well as to engage others who we warmly welcome.

The Forum is an ongoing collaboration among organizations who share the mission of heart health promotion and interested individual and groups are encouraged to join. Membership information is available online at http://www.hearthealthystrokefree.org.

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The nexus of disparities and CVD

The Forum continued on Friday, 28 March with a Town Hall Meeting at which heart disease and stroke prevention experts from around the world discussed the health consequences of racial and socioeconomic inequalities. Town hall meetings in the US historically have been organized so that people in a community can discuss important civic issues and offer suggestions or feedback on public policies. "This is the first of hundreds if not thousands of town hall meetings on this topic that will be held across the US in local health departments and communities," noted Dr. Darwin LaBarthe, Director, Division of Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The session began with a preview of a new documentary film titled "Unnatural Causes...Is inequality making us sick?" The film demonstrates the extent to which the conditions in which we are born, live, and work determine how healthy we will be. "Risk factors account for only 25% of cardiovascular disease; a poor person who smokes will typically have a worse health outcome than a rich smoker," director Larry Adelman, who attended the meeting, said.

Unnatural Causes, which is currently airing on US television, is one component of a larger impact campaign that is being conducted in association with public health, policy and community-based organizations. Schedules, video clips, and additional information are online at www.unnaturalcauses.org.  A DVD version in English and Spanish will be on sale in May for educational purposes.

"The wages and benefits we're paid, the neighborhoods we live in, the schools we attend, our access to resources and even our tax policies are as critical to health as diet, smoking and exercise. I wanted to enlarge the debate about who gets sick and why, to demonstrate the importance of policy by showing the human stories in which scientific evidence about the social determinants of health is embedded," said the director.

Date Posted: 29 March 2008