Family Heart Foundation Driving Global Policy Collaboration in Dubai

the Family Heart Foundation is thrilled to continue the Global Call to Action on FH initiative during the 2018 World Congress of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Health (WCC) in Dubai, UAE . The World Heart Federation and the Family Heart Foundation will cohost an international roundtable on December 6th to progress the work that began directly after the 2018 FH Global Summit in Marina Del Rey, CA on October 3rd.

Since our initial meeting, 23 countries have participated in this global collaboration to reexamine the original recommendations of the 1998 World Health Organization (WHO) Report on Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) and discuss the progress and gaps in implementation that continue to exist today. On December 6th the roundtable will convene 50 stakeholders representing FH advocacy organizations, scientific societies, academic institutions, and experts from around the world who will join the discussion to drive the prioritization of early identification and proactive treatment of FH within the global agendas of the Non Communicable Disease (NCD) Alliance and WHO.

Our aim is to create a working group and final document to plan for 2019 actions to engage the WHO in FH policy review. Together, we are determined to prevent another generation with FH from being lost to early heart disease.

On December 8th during the 2018 WCC, the Family Heart Foundation and International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS) will host a joint session on Familial Hypercholesterolemia titled “Recognize FH and Saves Lives.” Katherine Wilemon, Founder and CEO of the Family Heart Foundation, and Raul Santos, MD, PhD, President of IAS, will chair a series of presentations by Khalid Al Rasadi, MD from the Oman Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis (OSLA), Meral Kayikçioglu, MD from the Turkish Society of Cardiology, Rodrigo Alonso, MD from IAS Chile and FH Iberoamerican Network, and Sam Gidding, MD and Chief Medical Officer of the Family Heart Foundation. This session aims to inform the audience, especially health care providers, about the current landscape of FH in today’s world and how we can effectively screen and diagnose individuals early to ensure they live long, healthy lives. The session will also discuss the impact national FH registries have had on policy changes for FH and will share the outcomes of the Global Call to Action on FH roundtable that will be held on December 6th.