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The burden of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other vascular diseases, collectively known as cardiovascular disease (CVD), are reaching epidemic proportion all around the world but more so on the population of Indian sub-continent both at home and the parts of the world they migrated to and settled in.  We have knowledge on how to prevent even before the onset of the CVD risk factors, and to intervene when the disease process manifests, and also to prevent further complications.  Yet millions of people from South Asia are suffering from CVD causing a huge health care burden, social distress and the individual’s own strain both physically, financially and emotionally.  Therefore it is time to act.

There are more than 1.5 million people of Indian origin living in Canada.  Many of them carry one, or two, or more cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes (what we call as holy trinity).    When we look at India, a dynamically changing nation, globalizing ever so fast, the CVD puts a double burden on the country, states, families and individuals.

In a call to people of both these two great nations, we mount the collaboration – Canada India Networking Initiative (CINI).  We look at CVD prevention from different perspectives – clinical, social and economic.  The first step is to bring together all stakeholders together and address CVD problem in an entire perspective.  To this end, as a first step, we planned a conference of thought leaders from both Canada and India to review the situation and formulate actions in different spheres – research, training, health promotion, prevention, health care delivery, innovation, social policy, public health policy, and economic development through biotech, infotech, nanotech, pharma and device sectors.  We envisage this as an outcome driven conference and the outcomes to be implemented in the coming years.  We hope to lay a strong foundation for collaboration and networking of people from Canada and India to realize the recommendations of this conference.

This conference of jointly hosted by Simon Fraser University and Fraser Health Authority with a number of partners from Canada and India. 

We believe that CVD is a global problem and the solution must be global as well.  We welcome every one of you to participate in this long journey to create a heart healthy society here in Canada and in India and all around the world.

Download the full program of the conference here.