RESOLVE TO SAVE LIVES – Cardiovascular Health in the Americas - PAHO/WHO

Advancing the Fight Against Noncommunicable diseases and Preventing Deaths

Resolve to Save Lives and PAHO are working to Prevent Millions of deaths from Cardiovascular Disease by Implementing HEARTS in the Americas

More people die each year from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) than from any other cause. In the Americas, CVD is responsible for 30% of deaths. More than a quarter of women and four in ten men (ages 30 to 79) have hypertension, the leading risk factor for CVD deaths. In addition, rates of diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring are inadequate. In Latin America and the Caribbean, only 35% of women and 23% of men with hypertension have their blood pressure under control.

Resolve to Save Lives is a non-profit organization whose mission is to prevent 100 million CVD deaths by 2050 by reducing salt intake, eliminating industrially produced trans fats, and controlling hypertension. The organization works with governments and partners around the world to promote scalable, evidence-based policies and interventions to combat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). To this end, it provides technical and financial support, and emphasizes sharing of experiences and knowledge with national and local governments in low- and middle-income countries.

The organization was founded in 2017 by Dr. Tom Frieden, who at the end of his tenure as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), focused his work on CVD––one of the main––and underfunded––global public health problems.

Collaboration between Resolve to Save Lives and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) originated in the search for technical cooperation and financial resources for implementing the HEARTS in the Americas initiative. The initiative provides proven, affordable, and scalable solutions to improve the control of hypertension in primary health care. Since then, with PAHO’s systematic support, 32 countries in the Region have committed to implementing it.

Promoting the HEARTS initiative to improve cardiovascular health in the Region

Resolve to Save Lives is one of the global actors that contribute to the HEARTS initiative, led by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the Americas, this initiative has been overseen since 2017 by the ministries of health, with technical support from PAHO. HEARTS seeks to gradually become integrated into existing health services, with the goal of becoming, by 2025, the regional model for managing cardiovascular risk––including hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia––within primary health care.

This partnership has made it possible to allocate resources and provide technical assistance to the countries of the Americas in order to promote the adoption of global best practices, and to strengthen their health services. Thanks to this collaboration, most of the Region's Member States are now implementing HEARTS, which includes some 3000 health centers, together covering approximately 30 million adults in the respective catchment areas. With the support of Resolve to Save Lives, it is expected that the proportion of the adult population in the Region whose blood pressure is controlled will increase, potentially preventing hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Resolve to Save Lives is one of the few partners with a significant global presence committed to the fight against NCDs. Resolve's ability to mobilize resources, coupled with its extensive technical knowledge, have made it possible not only to achieve these results and scale the initiative, but also to create a community of practice, exchange experiences, and share lessons learned.

With its deep knowledge, innovative efforts, and political leadership, Resolve to Save Lives is a unique partner for PAHO in seeking to improve cardiovascular health and prevent thousands of deaths in the Region. Its dedication and capacity for resource mobilization serve as a benchmark and an inspiration in the fight against NCDs.

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