Expert articles offer insight on tackling the UK’s cardiovascular health crisis

A new collection of articles offering expert insight and policy recommendations to tackle the national cardiovascular health crisis has just been released. 

Published by Policy@Manchester, ‘Healthy Hearts’ collates University of Manchester academic research on cardiovascular disease (CVD) which currently leads to someone’s death in the UK every three minutes.

The articles cover an assortment of issues on cardiovascular health, from heart disease in cancer survivors, to the effects of air pollution on heart health, and an international view on the impact of cardiovascular deaths in developing countries.

‘Healthy Hearts’ also includes a thought provoking foreword by Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation, who reminds readers that CVD remains one of the country’s biggest killers, “tearing families apart and causing untold heartbreak to far too many.”

But she adds: “Much of the CVD burden is preventable so we must get serious about tackling the biggest causes of heart attacks and strokes. We know that factors such as tobacco, our unhealthy food environment and, as detailed by authors in this collection, air pollution, are persistent obstacles to a healthier population.”

Dr Griffiths describes the new publication as “a timely reminder of the critical role research breakthroughs play in sparking the changes in national policy and practice we need to see.”

The policy recommendations put forward in this world-leading collection outline concrete steps policymakers must consider as they seek to address the UK’s biggest killers and create an NHS fit for the future. Reversing a decade of lost progress in tackling CVD is within our reach.”

Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive, British Heart Foundation

The British Heart Foundation Chief Executive concludes: “The Government has made a clear commitment to tackle the UK’s biggest health challenges, including CVD – and they are right to do so. I hope that in reading this collection you, like me, feel a sense of excitement about what is possible, and that policymakers and healthcare leaders feel inspired to take much-needed steps that will get us ever closer to another half century of unstoppable progress.”

Professor Arpana Verma, Policy@Manchester Co-Director, said she was “immensely proud” of the quality of thinking her University of Manchester colleagues had delivered in ‘Healthy Hearts’ as policymakers strive to confront the national cardiovascular health crisis. 

“Many more people in the UK are losing their lives because of heart disease than for some time, and the problem is being exacerbated as a result of record high NHS waiting lists,” she commented.

“There is no quick fix but, together, the pieces in this collection emphasise the significance of cardiovascular health on our population, and the need for policymakers to prioritize a healthy heart.   

“I hope those in power – regionally, nationally and internationally – take note of the many important lessons the publication contains and act upon them.

“We are particularly grateful to Dr Charmaine Griffiths for providing the foreword which throws the full weight of the British Heart Foundation behind ‘Healthy Hearts.’

“Working with the Foundation, policymakers and other leaders in the sector, we believe we can make a positive difference to cardiovascular health across the country.”        

‘Healthy Hearts’ is available to read on the Policy@Manchester website.