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A
Public Health Action Plan to Prevent Heart Disease and Stroke
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Section 1. Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention: Time for Action
Healthy
People 2010 Goals and Objectives
Published in January
2000, Healthy People 2010 is the latest in a series of documents
initiated in 1979 to present national health objectives.2 This
new volume makes an important advance over Healthy People 2000 in presenting
a goal and related objectives for preventing heart disease and stroke. The
Healthy People 2010 Heart and Stroke Partnership* divided this goal into
four separate goals based on the different intervention approaches that
would be needed to achieve them. These four goals 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. Objectives outline specific measures of progress that
should be attained by the year 2010. A total of 16 objectives specifically
address coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, blood pressure, and
total blood cholesterol levels. In addition, 48 related objectives address
chronic kidney disease, diabetes, nutrition and overweight, physical
activity and fitness, tobacco use, access to quality health services, and
public health infrastructure. Several other objectives relate indirectly to
CVH. All of the related objectives are tabulated in Appendix B.
When the 2010 goal and
its objectives were adopted, CDC was designated to join NIH as the co–lead
federal health agency responsible for heart disease and stroke prevention.
CDC and NIH share responsibility "for undertaking activities to move the
nation toward achieving the year 2010 goals and for reporting
progress...over the course of the decade."2 The activities of these two
co–lead agencies in heart disease and stroke prevention are highlighted in
Appendix C. Publishing these goals and objectives alone will not assure that
they are attained. When progress toward meeting the Healthy People 2000
objectives was reviewed, three of the 17 objectives were met, some progress
had been made for another 12 objectives, and health status had worsened for
the remaining two.34 Among the 9 objectives for which positive
percentage changes could be calculated, only 5 reached more than 50% of the
target.
Unless we make
substantial progress toward meeting the 2010 goal for preventing heart
disease and stroke, we will see increasing numbers of people with CVD risk
factors, increasing numbers of first and recurrent heart attack and stroke
victims, and increasing numbers of people who die of CVD. Further, costs
will increase because of the larger numbers of people needing CVD treatment
and the higher cost for each CVD event (if the trend of increasing costs for
health services continues as expected). In contrast, success in meeting this
goal can reverse the unfavorable trends of the past decade. We must build on
the promise of knowledge and experience that awaits widespread translation
into public health practice.
* Current partners
include the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association; National
Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), CDC;
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Indian Health Service; National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke, NIH; and Office of Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, Office of Public Health and Science, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services.
Next Section: The Present
Opportunity
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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 |
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