February marks American Heart Month, a critical time to raise awareness about heart disease—the leading cause of death in the U.S. While the United States has witnessed a decline in overall deaths from heart disease and stroke, a recent report from the American Heart Association (2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: A Report of U.S. and Global Data From the American Heart Association) showed staggering statistics. In fact, in 2023, the report showed there were 915,973 total deaths from cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and heart failure. In other words, on average, someone died from cardiovascular disease every 34 seconds in 2023.
While some risk factors, such as genetics and age, can play a role, many cardiovascular diseases, including heart attacks and strokes, can be preventable. Since 1988, NACDD has been committed to advancing cardiovascular health initiatives. NACDD’s cardiovascular health projects, funded by CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and led by NACDD subject matter experts (SMEs), focus on the following areas to advance cardiovascular health:
- Peer Networking: NACDD offers a number of opportunities for Members to engage with colleagues, including through the Cardiovascular Health (CVH) Council, a virtual network of health department program staff, epidemiologists, evaluators, and affiliated partners from across the country.
- Partnerships: NACDD has been a proud national partner of Million Hearts® since 2012 and works with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and many other partners to support the priority areas of Million Hearts®. This support includes promoting Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Champions, facilitating monthly Million Hearts® Partner Calls, advancing cardiac rehabilitation through quarterly Cardiac Rehabilitation Collaborative calls, and releasing Request for Proposals designed to enhance, optimize, or expand cardiac rehabilitation efforts across public health jurisdictions, health systems, and other partners.
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Partnerships: Led by the Children’s Environmental Health Initiative at the University of Illinois Chicago (CEHI), this long-standing training program provides participants with GIS skills to create maps to address heart disease, stroke, and other chronic disease priorities. NACDD recently announced that nine state health departments (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wyoming) have been selected to participate in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Training for Surveillance of Heart Disease, Stroke, and Other Chronic Diseases in State Health Departments.