The World Heart Observatory: Harnessing the Power of Data for Cardiovascular Health.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s number one cause of death, claiming an estimated 18.6 million lives in 2019. That statistic is staggering. Most importantly, an estimated 80 percent of deaths from heart disease and stroke could be avoided with early interventions that span the continuum from education and prevention to diagnosis and treatment. As the COVID-19 pandemic has proven, health data is a powerful tool for use across the continuum of care. Some initiatives, such as Our World in Data, demonstrated the potential for the use of data to understand the spread of disease, spot emerging trends, identify the most vulnerable populations, and evaluate the impact of various clinical and public health interventions.