It is already August, and the majority of you are probably on holiday (I hope). August, however, is not a holiday time at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Heart House (EHH) as we are all getting ready for Barcelona. Three lorries are leaving the EHH tomorrow to bring all the necessary materials to Barcelona, and their departure is the onset of the Congress! We have been working hard to make the ESC Congress 2009 a great success. We know that we can count on one of the best congress programmes in the world, put together by an excellent Congress Programme Committee under the direction of Professor Fausto Pinto.
We also know that the theme this year Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease - from man, to cell, to society is one of the most important future areas of cardiology where there is much work to do, and much to be gained. We are also aware that the timing is not necessarily the best, particularly considering the worldwide economical crisis.
However ESC Congress 2009 bodes well for all involved and who stand to benefit from the valuable information that will be shared. As of today we have already received 22,365 registrations which is very similar to the situation in Munich last year and proves that our Society, and our Congress, is the Cardiological Congress as we expect to either equal or surpass our attendance from last year.
We are very proud of this for two reasons: firstly because we know that we will offer a wonderful congress where you have not only the opportunity to be updated on every aspect of cardiology, but also the possibility to meet with your friends in the now classic congress brand, and we know that you will feel right at home. Secondly because it means that our work is appreciated by all of you.
In addition to this overwhelming success, I am delighted to introduce the new initiative European Heart for Children driven by my wife, Claudia Florio Ferrari. A humanitarian dinner has been organised and initially we set a target of selling at least 100 seats. As of today we have already sold 450 seats and we are still receiving requests! In order to save a maximum amount of funds for the children, we decided not to spend any ununecessary funds on entertainment for the evening, but rather organise in-house entertainment.
And… we have an unbeatable programme! There will be a jazz band provided by the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation (EACPR), guitar and vocals by the Hellenic Society of Cardiology, piano by the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI), comedy by the Italian Federation of Cardiology (FIC), the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), the Heart Failure Association (HFA), opera by the European Association of Echocardiography (EAE), violin and piano by the Romanian Society of Cardiology, and saxophone and piano by the Spanish Society of Cardiology. Finally, just after the first mission in Syria, conducted with Bambini cardiopatici nel mondo, the initiative has been awarded with the prize Corazones con Eco which consists of a gold medal and the latest echo system from Siemens. We would like to thank Siemens for this.
Coming back to the Congress and to prevention, I believe it is important to highlight that if we really want to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease, we have to act on the modifiable risk factors and change the lifestyle of a population before cardiovascular disease occurs, and this is what prevention is all about. However, this issue is too important to be left in the hands of the cardiologists or the general practioners alone.
First of all, it can be difficult to always find adequate time, and additionally there is more focus on training in the area of treatment. It is all very well to tell patients that they have to change their life styles and to draw up a list of dos and don’ts, of pleasures forbidden and burdens imposed.
Taken to the extreme, prevention means to change the majority, if not all aspects, of life.
So, as you can see, it is not an easy task ahead of us and we need good examples to draw from. ESC Congress 2009 will provide an example which is going on in my own city of Ferrara, which has recently been declared the City of prevention. The University of Ferrara together with the municipality and many other stakeholders have launched a programme to promote prevention for the next 10 years. The University has provided a building which will be converted into a sort of home for prevention where citizens can have their risk charts made, where personnel will dedicate time to children and the general public to help them remain healthy, learn how to stop smoking, shop for healthy food, exercise, and which will have a fully operational kitchen for cooking courses.