Argentina requires reporting of heart attacks to track disease
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Argentina’s Ministry of Health will now require healthcare professionals to report every heart attack to the national surveillance system, starting tomorrow.
Minister Mario Lugones announced the change during the Argentine Cardiology Congress in Buenos Aires. This builds on recent additions of stroke and heart failure to the list of mandatory reporting requirements, creating a more complete picture of cardiovascular disease across the country.
The new system will use the existing Stroke App, originally designed to coordinate responses to strokes, to also manage heart attack responses. This unified approach aims to speed up care, diagnosis, and treatment for both emergencies, as every minute matters. The app is currently being tested in several hospitals, including Posadas, El Cruce, PAMI, and in the Tres de Febrero municipality.
Health officials expect the mandatory reporting of these three conditions, heart attack, stroke, and heart failure, to provide systematic information for monitoring trends and assessing the quality of care. They will use this data to improve the health system’s response to cardiovascular diseases, which are a leading cause of death in Argentina. The ministry is also launching a National Plan for Comprehensive Vascular Health to integrate existing programs and address risk factors like hypertension and diabetes.
