Top Things to Know: The American Heart Association 2030 Impact Goal

This Presidential Advisory summarizes the AHA’s main considerations and conclusions and outlines the 2030 Impact Goal, the metrics to monitor progress, and the AHA’s plan to achieve this goal by working with the diverse community of volunteers, patients, scientists, health care professionals, and partner organizations needed to ensure success.

1. Since the late 1990s, the AHA has committed to a singular impact goal to advance the AHA’s mission for the decade ahead.
2. Accompanying the new AHA mission, “To be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives”, the 2030 Impact Goal for the US is “together, we will equitably increase healthy life expectancy from 66 to at least 68 years, by 2030. The 2030 Impact Goal around the world is, “together with global and local collaborators, we will equitably increase worldwide healthy life expectancy from 64 to at least 67 years, by 2030”.
3. Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE), commonly referred to as Healthy Life Expectancy is the optimal metric selected based on 5 key criteria that include:(1) embodiment of the AHA mission and values, (2) contemporary relevance, (3) validity, (4) modifiability, and (5) data analytic consistency and frequency.
4. HALE provides a summary measure of population health that quantifies the number of years a population can anticipate living in good health. HALE does this by adjusting life expectancy for the years lived in less-than-ideal health and years lost due to premature mortality to provide a single measure of average population health.
5. The AHA, together with partners and stakeholders, will further promote and support individual- and population-based scientific research and dissemination of findings for enhancing behaviors, environments, and policies that promote equitable health and well-being.
6. Looking ahead to the next decade, the AHA recognizes it must leverage a wide view of the drivers or “structural” determinants of health (SDOH) that contribute to equitable health and well-being to achieve the environments where all people have an opportunity to reach their full potential.
7. The AHA commits to broaden its expertise and partnerships to include societal and structural contributors to health such as housing, education, safety, access to healthy food, meaningful and sufficiently paid work, and clean air, water, and healthy environments.
8. Equity is at the center, where the greatest health benefits should be among those who have endured the greatest adversities and inequities because of race, ethnicity, income, or other demographic or geographic characteristics.
9. United focus on health and well-being, where efforts to save lives, prevent premature deaths and disability are combined with those aimed at expanding prosperity, a sense of connection and purpose, and other conditions that enhance life experience and productivity.
10. A focus is quantifying the health benefits associated with longer, healthier lifespans and transitioning them to individuals and their organizations, communities, and the larger society. Benefits will be weighed against the costs of health promotion, disease prevention and treatment decisions required to achieve these goals.