Samantha Humphreys
MD of MSD Ireland (Human Health)
Cardiovascular disease does not begin when someone arrives at an emergency department with symptoms. It often begins years earlier through risk factors that could be identified, managed and, in many cases, prevented.
Cardiovascular disease is Europe’s biggest disease burden. It claims 1.7 million lives annually, affects a further 60 million people, and costs the continent more than €282 billion every year.1
Reimagining Ireland’s cardiovascular health system
The publication of the EU Safe Hearts Plan in 2025 marked an important shift in how Europe approaches cardiovascular health, giving countries like Ireland an opportunity to rethink how we prevent, detect and treat it across the whole health system.
This September also marks the launch of the first-ever EU Screening Week under the plan, a clear signal of this ambition now taking shape across Europe. Ireland should seize this opportunity, using the Safe Hearts Plan as a benchmark for the development of our own national cardiovascular strategy.
The question we need to ask ourselves is straightforward: what would a genuinely world-class cardiovascular health system look like for Ireland? Prevention should be at the heart of that response.
A CVD strategy with earlier risk detection
In Ireland, up to 600,000 people are living with a cardiovascular condition.2 Cardiovascular disease claims around 9,000 lives every year, touching one in two families across the country.3 One of the most tragic aspects of this crisis is how much of it is avoidable. Up to 80% of cardiovascular disease is preventable,4 and yet, Ireland does not currently have a systematic population-based cardiovascular health-check programme to catch disease early.
We therefore now have a real opportunity to put forward a strategy that identifies risk earlier and strengthens the detection and management of key risk factors, including high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose and cholesterol. We should also leverage this as an opportunity to strengthen other related public health efforts, including supporting smoking cessation, maintaining a healthy weight and ensuring protection against seasonal respiratory infections that can trigger acute cardiovascular complications in high-risk patients.
In Ireland, up to 600,000 people are living with a cardiovascular condition.2
Cardiovascular disease claims around 9,000 lives every year,
touching one in two families across the country
Heart disease awareness gaps and inequalities persist
A new strategy should also recognise that prevention cannot be separated from awareness and inequality. We currently face a profound awareness gap which is especially stark for women, with research by the Irish Heart Foundation showing only 13% of women correctly identify heart disease and stroke as major threats, despite it being the leading cause of death for women in Ireland. Cardiovascular disease also disproportionately impacts those in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, driving deeper health inequalities in turn.
Yet, prevention is only one part of the equation. When cardiovascular disease does occur, patients need timely access to accurate diagnosis, specialist care, appropriate treatment and effective rehabilitation. We need to think about cardiovascular health as a continuum, from prevention, early detection, treatment, rehabilitation to long-term care. That is also important in the context of the inequalities just highlighted, as access to these cannot depend on where someone lives, their gender or their circumstances.
Aligning Ireland with EU heart goals
Encouragingly, we do not have to look far for solutions. The EU Safe Hearts Plan sets a clear ambition to cut premature cardiovascular deaths by 25% by 2035 and expand routine cardiovascular health checks across Europe. At home, the national review of adult specialist cardiac services provides an additional foundation for reform, while the Government has already committed to a new national cardiovascular strategy.
The opportunity now is to bring these strands together to create a more ambitious and integrated approach. Ireland’s first cardiovascular strategy should align with European standards while setting clear ambitions of its own.
At its heart should be a new national cardiovascular health-check framework, centred on a proposed ‘Know Your Numbers’ cardiovascular risk-assessment initiative and aligned with emerging European recommendations on earlier cardiovascular health checks to identify key risk factors before they lead to serious disease. The forthcoming European Council recommendation on cardiovascular health checks provides a timely opportunity to translate these ambitions into practical action and for Ireland to demonstrate leadership during its EU Presidency.
A measurable and patient-centred strategy
The new strategy should bring together Government, clinicians, patients, researchers, public-health experts, patient organisations and industry around a small number of shared, measurable goals. It should also define how we measure progress: are we detecting risk earlier? Are people receiving timely preventive care, appropriate treatment and access to rehabilitation? Are inequalities narrowing? Most importantly, are we saving more of the 9,000 lives lost each year?
Europe has set the benchmark; Ireland now has the opportunity to build a cardiovascular strategy fit for the future, centred on patients and measured by its ability to save and improve lives through earlier prevention, detection and treatment.
[1] EU cardiovascular health plan: the Safe Hearts Plan. Cardiovascular health – Public Health – European Commission. Last accessed: 21 September 2026.
[2] Irish Heart Foundation, Strategic Plan, 2025-2028. Last accessed: 21 September 2026.
[3] Croí. The Future of Cardiovascular Health in Ireland – A Manifesto for Change. Available at: Manifesto_Final_120424-ECOPY.pdf. Last accessed: 21 September 2026.
[4] World Heart Federation. CVD Prevention. CVD Prevention | What We Do | World Heart Federation Last accessed: 21 September 2026.
Further references available upon request. Veeva Code: IE-NON-00756. Date of preparation: September 2026
