posted on 2023-05-21, 14:42authored byOrdunez, P, Campbell, NR, Arcila, GPG, Angell, SY, Lombardi, C, Brettler, JW, Rodriguez Morales, YA, Connell, KL, Gamarra, A, DiPette, DJ, Rosende, A, Jaffe, MG, Rodriguez, L, Pineiro, DJ, Martinez, R, James SharmanJames Sharman
Global Hearts is the flagship initiative of the World Health Organization to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. HEARTS in the Americas Initiative is the regional adaptation that envisions HEARTS as the model for cardiovascular disease risk management, including hypertension and diabetes, in primary health care in the Americas by 2025. This initiative is entering its sixth year of implementation and now includes 22 countries and 1 380 primary health care centers. The objectives of this report are three-fold. First, it describes the emergence and the main elements of HEARTS in the Americas. Secondly, it summarizes the main innovations developed to catalyze and sustain implementation of the initiative. These innovations include: a) introduction of hypertension control drivers; b) development of a comprehensive and practical clinical pathway; c) development of a strategy to improve the accuracy of blood pressure measurement; d) creation of a monitoring and evaluation platform; and e) development of a standardized set of training and education resources. Thirdly, this report discusses future priorities of the initiative. The goal of implementing these innovative and pragmatic solutions is to create a more effective health system and shift the focus of cardiovascular and hypertension programs from the highly specialized care level to primary health care. In addition, HEARTS in the Americas can serve as a model for more comprehensive, effective, and sustainable noncommunicable disease prevention and treatment practices.
History
Publication title
Pan American journal of public health
Volume
46
Issue
Special Issue
Article number
e96
Number
e96
Pagination
1-10
ISSN
1680-5348
Department/School
Menzies Institute for Medical Research
Publisher
Pan American Health Organization
Place of publication
Washington, DC
Rights statement
Copyright (2022) by Pan American Journal of Public Health [PAHO]. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. No modifications or commercial use of this article are permitted. In any reproduction of this article there should not be any suggestion that PAHO or this article endorse any specific organization or products. The use of the PAHO logo is not permitted. This notice should be preserved along with the article’s original URL. Open access logo and text by PLoS, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).