A Public Health Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke

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The Action Plan

The Action Plan embraces the two overarching goals of Healthy People 2010, which are to increase quality and years of healthy life and to eliminate health disparities.⁵ It also addresses four goals specific to heart disease and stroke, as distinguished by the Healthy People 2010 Heart and Stroke Partnership according to the different intervention approaches that apply. These goals (which are based on the one Healthy People 2010 goal) are prevention of risk factors, detection and treatment of risk factors, early identification and treatment of heart attacks and strokes, and prevention of recurrent cardiovascular events. An action framework that outlines the comprehensive public health strategy of the Action Plan (see Figure 1) highlights these goals. The main features of the action framework can be described briefly as follows (see full report for further discussion): 

• The Present Reality, which summarizes current knowledge of the progressive development of heart disease and stroke. 

• A Vision of the Future, which summarizes the favorable circumstances that must be achieved if the epidemic of heart disease and stroke is to be arrested and reversed. 

• Intervention Approaches, which include the six broad approaches that, when fully and effectively implemented, can help bring about the transition to the vision of the future. 

• Healthy People 2010 Partnership Goals for reducing heart disease and stroke and how the six intervention approaches can address successive stages of disease and help attain these goals. 

• Target Population, which indicates how many people could be reached by each successive intervention approach.

This public health strategy is based on the concept of pursuing the Healthy People 2010 goal for preventing heart disease and stroke by applying the full array of intervention approaches. For this Action Plan, participants proposed specific recommendations after identifying public health areas critical to preventing heart disease and stroke. Five such areas were established as essential components of the plan (see Figure 2, next page). For each component, CDC convened an Expert Panel to consider the relevant issues and recommend action steps through which to address them. Detailed implementation plans will be developed in each area subsequently, guided by the overall plan. 

The five components and their respective panels are summarized as follows: 

• Taking action. Translating current knowledge into effective public health action (Expert Panel A). 

• Strengthening capacity. Transforming public health agencies with new competencies and resources and expanding partnerships to mount and sustain such action (Expert Panel B). 

• Evaluating impact. Systematically monitoring and evaluating the health impact of interventions to identify and rapidly disseminate those most effective (Expert Panel C).

Figure 2. An Integrated Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke

• Advancing policy. Defining the most critical policy issues and pursuing the needed prevention research to resolve them and expedite policy development (Expert Panel D). 

• Engaging in regional and global partnerships. Multiplying resources and capitalizing on shared experience with others throughout the global community who are addressing similar challenges (Expert Panel E).

The Expert Panels proposed specific recommendations and action steps for implementing the plan over the next two decades and beyond. For this Overview, the full list of recommendations was synthesized into two fundamental requirements and 10 summary recommendations.

Next Section: Fundamental Requirements

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Date last reviewed: 05/12/2006
Content source: Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion