Tackling cardiovascular diseases in sub-Saharan Africa: the Africa-Europe CoRE in non-communicable disease and multimorbidity

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have been the leading cause of death in Africa since 2019,1 despite the continent’s predominantly young population. The prevalence and associated morbidity and mortality of CVDs continue to increase in the region, highlighting a growing and urgent public health challenge. The stark contrast between Africa and Europe in terms of median age and health outcomes points to the need for a tailored, comprehensive strategy to address cardiovascular risks in Africa. This situation calls for bold, sustained collaboration focused on building sustainable partnerships, enhancing capacity, and employing multidisciplinary approaches to effectively combat CVDs on the continent. Over the past few decades, Africa's health landscape has transformed significantly. One of the most notable achievements is the increase in life expectancy within the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region, which rose by nearly 10 years between 2000 and 2019—the most substantial improvement among all WHO regions (WHO, World Health Statistics 2022)—largely driven by improvements in human and public health development as well as wide-scale availability of antiretroviral therapy for HIV.