CDC Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program Receives Additional Funds in FY 2010

American Heart Association advocates played a key role in urging their representatives to boost funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention program which helps states implement a Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program (HDSP), Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry, WISEWOMAN, and a broad surveillance system. In the FY 2010 Labor-HHS-Education omnibus bill, the HDSP program received $56 million or a 3.9 percent increase. CDC spends on average only 16 cents per person each year in the U.S. on heart disease and stroke prevention. Currently, CDC funds only 14 states for basic program implementation and 27 states and Washington, D.C. for capacity building (program planning). WISEWOMAN received $20 million or a 6.4 percent increase to provide increased resources to the 20 currently funded states. WISEWOMAN is a competitively awarded state-based heart disease and stroke screening and prevention program for uninsured and underinsured low-income women.

HEART for Women Amendment Introduced!

One of the staples of the American Heart Association's advocacy efforts has always centered on women and heart disease. We recognize that heart disease is the number one killer of women, but it is amazing to see how few people actually realize that and it is even more shocking to realize the right tools and supports are not in place to address this deadly killer. In the past our support has taken the form of an independent bill that we called the Heart Disease Education, Analysis Research, and Treatment (HEART) for Women Act. Many of you may know the bill and have supported its passage. As the healthcare reform debate continues to spark debate in Congress, we have learned that Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has taken the HEART for Women Act and adapted it be an amendment to the Senate's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590).

The AHA has joined with the Society for Women's Health Research and Women Heart, to support Senator Stabenow's amendment. In a letter to the Senator, our organizations recognized that "health care reform provides an opportunity for Congress to reduce the cardiovascular health disparities that women face" and we thanked the Senator for stepping forward for all American women. The amendment would expand to all 50 states the CDC's WISEWOMAN program and require the FDA to report safety and effectiveness data by gender, race, and ethnicity in order to shed new light on how drugs work among specific populations. These are exactly the kinds of advancements we need and we are urging the full Senate to support Sen. Stabenow's amendment. You can do your part by sending a message to your Senators today!

Regardless of our Senator's views on the overall Senate bill, we must let them know that we are counting on them to find common ground and support provisions that will have a real impact on the health of patients, such as the HEART for Women amendment.

Please help us support the HEART for Women Amendment.

Urging Congress to Fund the Fight Against Heart Disease and Stroke

American Heart Association President Dr. Clyde Yancy has released a statement urging Members of Congress to increase funding for heart disease and stroke research, treatment and prevention programs.

In response to recent action in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, Dr. Yancy expressed concern that the funding levels approved for the National Institutes of Health will not allow researchers to explore promising new scientific opportunities. While the Heart Association was pleased with the funding approved for CDC's Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program and the WISEWOMAN Program, we were disappointed that the subcommittee provided no funding increase for HRSA’s Rural and Community Access to Emergency Devices Program.

A conference committee will work out the final funding levels since numbers differed in the House and Senate, and Dr. Yancy urged "conferees to boost funding levels to help sustain and expand critical heart disease and stroke research and prevention programs that will benefit all Americans and future generations."

Read Dr. Yancy's full statement in the AHA newsroom.