Cristian Busoi is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Romania and an influential member of the MEP Heart Group.  He is under no illusions of the seriousness of the CVD epidemic.  In his address to the summit, he emphasised that action is needed in relation to the lifestyle factors that cause cardiovascular diseases, namely unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, tobacco consumption and alcohol abuse.  He concluded, "We have seen that cardiovascular diseases are a serious threat to public health.  There is evidence that urgent action is needed to prevent such diseases.  It is time to do something more than just talking about it.  The EU, as well as national authorities, needs to take concrete steps in this direction and promote healthy lifestyles through all the relevant policies in a coordinated manner, so that the measures have the utmost level of effectiveness."

Around 90 people representing 45 organisations attended the summit, which was held at Heart House, the ESC headquarters in Sophia Antipolis.  Delegates heard that excellent progress has been made by member countries of the ESC in adopting the European Heart Health Charter (EHHC) and in implementing the 4th JTF Guidelines, and were given an overview of best practice by speakers from UK, Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina.  The work in updating the guidelines for 2011 was also covered at the summit, with presentations on new techniques for assessing risk factors and a short review of lessons learnt.

All delegates are expected to sign-up to a set of principles agreed at the summit, while the Cardiac Societies of ESC member countries will be asked to commit to a series of actions to promote prevention.  Summarising the outcome of the summit, Professor Graham said, "I was very pleased to see so many influential people at Heart House contributing to the discussions.  We cannot allow the strong consensus we achieved to be ignored just because the political challenges of active prevention are difficult.  The danger from silence on this issue is that CVD and other chronic diseases will continue to cause many unnecessary deaths while the cost of treatment will drain healthcare budgets."

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