Birmingham will be part of a new project aiming to improve urban cardiovascular health for all communities.
The University of Birmingham will collaborate with international partners on an ambitious project aiming to help reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in urban environments, as well as reducing the health inequality gap.
Funded by the European Union Innovative Health Initiative, the Cities@Heart consortium will design, pilot and evaluate a series of city-level strategies to improve cardiovascular health for all.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally, accounting for over 20 million deaths per year and costing the European Union an estimated €282 billion annually.
Tackling cardiovascular disease in urban environments is challenging due to factors like poor access to healthy food, exposure to pollution, migration, lack of healthcare access and lack of safe spaces for physical activity. Urban infrastructure, food systems, and socio-economic disparities contribute to adverse cardiometabolic outcomes.
While there are many interventions for cardiovascular disease, a lack of effective implementation means these often fail to reach individuals in urban areas who would benefit most. This is particularly evident in underserved city populations such as those experiencing poverty, and in certain ethnic groups, disabled people and women.
Addressing these complex issues requires a whole-city, integrated approach that changes health policy through co-production of suitable interventions with communities and community leaders.
Cities@Heart aims to address the major driver of poor outcomes – inequalities in health and access to healthcare that affect many communities within our cities.
The Cities@Heart project, starting in January 2026 and coordinated by the University of Birmingham, the University Medical Center Utrecht (Netherlands) and Novartis (Switzerland), will combine medical, technical, social and policy innovations to achieve a transformation in outcomes for communities experiencing health inequality.
Led by Professor Dipak Kotecha, the project will utilise existing infrastructure from seven city councils across Europe, embedding new health innovations and technologies from industry partners to tackle the challenge of urban cardiovascular disease on a significant scale.
The strategies will target obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and diabetes, key drives of common and high-cost cardiovascular disease, such as heart attacks, stroke, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and vascular dementia. These disproportionately impact underserved and disadvantaged communities in urban areas.
Professor Dipak Kotecha, Professor of Cardiology at the University of Birmingham, researcher at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre, through which this project will be delivered, Honorary Professor at the University Medical Center Utrecht and Global Director of Cities@Heart said:
“Huge strides have been made to better manage disease of the heart and circulation, but they still remain the world’s biggest killers. We will jointly develop approaches with affected citizens, community leaders, city councils, clinicians, health policy leaders and industry partners to achieve long-term change.”
The project consortium involves 34 international partners, including the World Health Organization (WHO) European Healthy Cities Network, World Heart Federation, European Heart Network, European Society of Cardiology, European Public Health Association and multiple European universities.
Birmingham joins another six cities committed to city-wide improvement that will test and implement strategies that can be scaled across the WHO’s network of more than 1,800 cities: Belfast (Northern Ireland), Cork (Republic of Ireland), Łódź (Poland), Izmir (Turkey), Udine (Italy) and Utrecht (Netherlands).
The vision of the consortium is that evidence-based prevention, early detection, and management of cardiovascular disease is universally accessible in urban areas, supported by new health technology developments. The Cities@Heart project aims to reduce the economic burden of cardiovascular disease on society and improve quality-of-life and life expectancy for millions.
Notes for editors:
About the University of Birmingham
About the National Institute for Health and Care Research
The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:
NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in low and middle income countries is principally funded through UK international development funding from the UK government.
The NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is part of the NIHR and hosted by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHBFT) in partnership with the University of Birmingham (UoB). The BRC’s research programme focuses on inflammation and the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of its associated long-term illnesses.
Professor of Cardiology & Cardiac Imaging
Staff profile for Professor Dipak Kotecha, Professor of Cardiology, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham.
