CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 33, No 2, March/April 2022 AFRICA 89 programme. KCS formed a local organising committee charged with fundraising and overseeing logistical aspects. The congress was preceded by pre-congress events on 22 November 2021, comprising the 6th WHF summit and two workshops conducted in parallel. The theme of the 2021 WHF summit was: Time to act on obesity: because preventing and controlling obesity can be a game changer in cardiovascular health. The WHF is a strategic partner of PASCAR and their summits, which began in 2016, convened members of governments, civil societies, industries, academia and allied health professionals in the mission to share, learn and deliberate on best practices surrounding the prevention and control of CVDs at a regional and global level. Previous editions have explored key issues, such as access to essential medications, mitigation of CVD healthcare costs, innovations in medical technology, and the role of the multidisciplinary workforce in cardiovascular health. The congress was officially opened at the end of the pre-congress workshops with an opening plenary session. This plenary session was attended by representatives from the Kenyan Ministry of Health, regional civil societies, development partners, allied healthcare community partners and private sector representatives, to discuss health-system resilience to improve and maintain access to CVD care in Africa, including the particular regional challenges of doing so in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The congress was officially opened by the chief guest, Dr Mercy Mwangangi, who serves as the chief administrative secretary in the Kenyan Ministry of Health, flanked by presidents of the PASCAR, KCS and WHF. The scientific programme of the congress was organised in plenary and break-out sessions to cover major topics within CVDs, including hypertension; heart failure; rhythm disorders of the heart; cardiac imaging; coronary artery disease; COVID-19 and the heart; rheumatic heart disease; interventional cardiology; paediatric cardiology; congenital heart disease; cardiac surgery; preventative cardiology and cardiometabolic syndromes; and sports cardiology. The congress culminated in a grandstand livecase transmission from the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital showcasing a live percutaneous coronary intervention procedure using adjunctive technology. The congress’ expert faculty was drawn from around the globe, including from PASCAR, KCS, cardiology societies from across Africa, Europe and North America, as well as other international thought leaders nominated by the scientific committee members. Highlights from the pre-congress meetings World Heart Federation summit The WHF summit was convened as a hybrid event, with five global and regional webinars held between October and November, culminating in the half-day event in Mombasa, Kenya during the PASCAR congress. As mentioned above, the WHF summit theme was: Time to act on obesity. The summit, PASCAR heart failure course delegates.
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