Promoting global cardiovascular health ensuring access to essential cardiovascular medicines in low- and middle-income countries

On May 13, 2010, a resolution passed at the United Nations for a high-level meeting with heads of state on noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs), catapulting NCDs atop the political and health agendas. This meeting on NCDs, slated for September 2011, provides the rare political moment to commit to scaling up international, regional, and national efforts to prevent and treat NCDs, giving the issue the priority it deserves. An analogous high-profile meeting transpired in 2001 on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), effectively serving as the nucleating event for a vigorous global and political movement towards universal prevention and treatment. As was the case at the HIV/AIDS meeting, a key priority area in the new NCD movement remains ensuring universal access to reliable, affordable essential medicines to prevent and treat NCDs. The upcoming meeting, therefore, provides the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the increased political and social awareness of NCDs and to apply the lessons learned from the HIV/antiretroviral experience in order to improve access to essential medicines for NCDs. Social mobilization and political advocacy, used in tandem with technical solutions, is an important lesson from the HIV experience, and will likely be important to ensure access to essential medicines for NCDs, including cardiovascular disease. Here, we use cardiovascular disease as a specific case study to examine the issue, outlining early solutions while drawing parallels and analogies to the HIV experience.