The ACC is taking part in the second Global Week for Action on NCDs, from Sept. 2-8. Led by the NCD Alliance, of which the ACC is a member, the global community is mobilizing to speak out and urge governments to act on commitments to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which remain the #1 cause of disability and death worldwide every year.

Currently more than 50 percent of countries are not on track to reach the goal of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by 2030. This year's Global Week of Action will focus on "Ensuring Healthy Lives for All: NCDs and Universal Health Coverage (UHC)" – leading up to the first United Nations High-Level Meeting on UHC to be held from Sept. 24-30.

ACC Past President John Gordon Harold, MD, MACC, kicked off the week by participating in an interactive panel discussion at the NCD Café during the ESC Congress 2019 in Paris. Harold focused on the role health care professionals play in strengthening health systems and combating NCDs in their communities across the continuum of care, and highlighted ACC's ongoing efforts to engage stakeholders to fight NCDs. Among the activities: partnering with ACC's 42 International Chapters to bring regionalized education, train-the-trainer programs, and mentoring and leadership training directly to cardiovascular clinicians all around the world. Additionally, ACC's new Global Heart Attack Treatment Initiative (GHATI) is dedicated to collaborating, collecting and sharing data, and utilizing quality improvement (QI) tools to better acute myocardial infarction (AMI) care.

"In 2011 the United Nations set a goal to reduce the rate of premature deaths by NCDs by 2030. With this goal only 10 years away, there is an urgent need to reach clinicians where they live and practice throughout the world," Harold said. "The ACC has a long legacy of international collaboration and engagement with the goal of improving the quality of cardiovascular care worldwide. Only by working together will we be able to achieve not only ACC's missions to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health, but the broader goal of reducing deaths from heart disease and other prevalent NCDs."

Ready to take action? Join the ACC in this global movement to generate momentum by visiting EnoughNCDS.com. While there, go the extra mile and add your voice and actions to the global Map of Impact. ACC members are also encouraged to follow the ACC on Twitter (@ACCinTouch) and Facebook and share posts and join the discussion using #EnoughNCDs. Additionally several new studies presented at ESC Congress 2019 highlight opportunities to improve cardiovascular care and reduced NCDs, particularly in low- to middle-income countries. Read more. Need more information on NCDs? Visit ACC's NCD Hub at ACC.org/NCDs.

Clinical Topics: Cardiovascular Care Team

Keywords: ESC 19, ESC Congress, Mortality, Premature, Quality Improvement, United Nations, Heart Diseases, Myocardial Infarction, Continuity of Patient Care

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