The World Heart Federation (WHF – www.world-heart-federation.org) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC – www.escardio.org) are long-term international partners of the SCRF.

Collaboration with the World Heart Federation  (WHF – www.world-heart-federation.org)

The World Heart Federation (WHF) is a nonprofit organization. The  main purpose of the WHF is the global fight against cardiovascular diseases, primarily coronary heart disease and stroke, with a  focus on low-and middle-income countries. The WHF is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the lead partner in the prevention of cardiovascular and other chronic non-communicable diseases. Currently, the WHF unites 200  societies of cardiologists and heart federations of more than 100 countries.

The World Heart Day is widely celebrated by the world community on September 27 annually. The WHF in partnership with the WHO celebrates this Day in more than 100 countries. The celebration of the World Heart Day in the Russian Federation is held by the SCRF and includes public talks, scientific forums, concerts, festivals and sport tournaments, as well as free evaluation of health status and risk factors.

The President of the WHF (2009-2010), Pekka Puska (Finland) is a well-known expert in the field of preventive cardiology and control of cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases. He has been cooperating with Russian colleagues for many years.

Collaboration with the European Society of Cardiology (ESC – www.escardio.org) 

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) joints 62 000 professionals working in the field of cardiology in Europe and the Mediterranean countries.

The ESC comprises 53 National Societies of Cardiologists. The SCRF is a constant member of the ESC since 1993.

The members of National Societies, as well as members of the SCRF, are automatically members of the ESC and the ESC Community and have the same benefits.

The primary aim of the ESC is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases in Europe.

The ESC provides an array of scientific and educational activities, such as the production and continuous updating of Clinical Guidelines, the organisation of educational courses and initiatives, pan-European surveys; edition of 7 journals; organisation of the annual European Congress of Cardiology (the largest medical meeting in Europe).

The SCRF cooperation with the ESC is held in all abovementioned directions.

1. Research

The ESC initiates large-scale clinical and epidemiological studies to assess the quality of diagnosis and clinical practice in respect to main cardiovascular diseases in Europe. Such studies are of  considerable value as they provide a comparative assessment of cardiologic practice in different regions and countries of Europe. The Euro Heart Survey, ACS surveys, EUROASPIRE, etc are the major projects of the ESC in recent years. The Russian research centers under the guidance of the SCRF have participated in these international studies.

2. Publication of Guidelines and Joint Educational Projects

The Guidelines of the ESC on the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases are regularly translated and published under the aegis the SCRF in the official journals of the Society ("Cardiovascular therapy and prevention" and "Rational pharmacotherapy in cardiology").

Joint educational activities of the SCRF and the ESC are held regularly: Russian-European School on Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation in St. Petersburg (2006), in Moscow (2007), in Perm (2008), in Novosibirsk (2010) (since 2007 together with the Russian National Society on Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation). In May 2010 the Russian Society of Heart Failure (affiliated Society of the SCRF) in partnership with the European Association on Heart Failure has conducted the European Day of Knowledge on Heart Failure.

3. Cooperation During Congresses

The delegation of the SCRF headed by the President of the SCRF takes an active part in the ESC Congresses. In turn, the Presidents of the ESC and other well-known European cardiologists - Kim Fox, Roberto Ferrari, Michal Tendera, M Komajda, David Wood, Panos Vardas - have repeatedly participated and presented their reports at Russian National Congresses of Cardiologists.

Since 2004, the SCRF stand, representing the activities of the Society, works at the annual ESC Congress. Informative materials of the SCRF in English are usually prepared for the ESC Congress. Due to active work of the SCRF stand a collaboration with the American College of Cardiology and other organizations was started. Recently the interest of foreign cardiologists in the Russian National Congress of Cardiologists has increased significantly. The delegations of cardiologists from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Armenia, Germany, Poland, USA, Turkey, Jordan, India, Serbia and other countries have participated at the Russian National Congress of Cardiologists in 2007-2010.

Since 2007,  joint scientific sessions of the SCRF and the ESC have been held at Russian National Congresses of Cardiologists.

In 2010 a joint scientific session of the SCRF and the Turkish Association of Clinical Cardiology (with participation of the President of the Turkish Council on Cardiology, professor Neil Kaglar) was held. In April 2011 an International Russian-Turkish Conference will take place in St. Petersburg.

A joint stand of the SCRF and the ESC has been working at Russian National Congresses of Cardiologists 2009 and 2010. Headquarters staff of the ESC, responsible for cooperation with the National Societies, have visited Moscow to work at the stand. Participants of Congresses had an opportunity to ask questions about the work and activities of the ESC, membership benefits directly from the ESC representatives.

4. Participation of Russian Cardiologists in Structures of the ESC

All individual members of the SCRF (currently more than 1000 cardiologists) are members of the ESC, some of them are ESC Fellows (FESC). Russian cardiologists have 4 votes (the largest possible number) in the election of the President of the ESC.

The European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (EACPR -http://www.escardio.org/communities/eacpr/pages/welcome.aspx) is a part of the ESC. The EACPR together with the ESC have established the Institute of National Coordinators for Cardiovascular Prevention.

Since 2004, professor NV Pogosova (Moscow) and professor SK Malyutina (Novosibirsk) following the passage of a pan-European competition have been put to work in the structures of the EACPR on a permanent basis: Working Group on Cardiorehabilitation (http://www.escardio.org/communities/EACPR/about/EACPR-main-sections/Pages/EACPR-Cardiac-Rehabilitation.aspx) and Working Group on Prevention, Epidemiology and Public Health (http://www.escardio.org/communities/EACPR/about/EACPR-main-sections/Pages/prevention-epidemiology-population.aspx).

Since 2009, the SCRF has been actively cooperating with the American College of Cardiology. The President the SCRF, academician of RAMS RG Oganov, professor VY Mareev and professor DG Zaridze made presentations at the Annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta (2010).

Two joint scientific sessions of the SCRF and the American College of Cardiology: "Acute coronary syndrome: the first day of illness" and "Stratification of the risk of cardiovascular diseases" were held at the Russian National Congress of Cardiologists 2010. The President of the American College of Cardiology, professor Ralf G. Brindis and chief editor of Journal of American College of Cardiology (JACC), professor Anthony N. DeMaria presented lectures.

The President of the American College of Cardiology, professor Ralf G. Brindis and professor MY Ruda at a joint session of the SCRF and ACC 

The sessions aroused a wide interest in the medical community and gave an opportunity to discuss current problems of patients care with American colleagues. Joint scientific sessions are planned at the Russian National Congress of Cardiologists 2011.