LAUSR

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted an agenda of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. Three of these goals are pertinent to our discussion on implementation of imaging technology to evaluate cardiovascular disease (CVD) in special to guide treatment and help reduce mortality due to coronary heart disease (CHD). Goal number 3 deals with good health and well-being; goal number 10 is dedicated to reducing inequalities; and goal number 17 deals with partnership for the goals. Cardiovascular disease is a fierce enemy. It remains the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for one-third of all deaths, beating all forms of cancers combined, infectious diseases, and death from injuries. A specific target has been set by the UN to reduce by one-third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases, including CVD, cancer, diabetes mellitus (DM), and chronic respiratory diseases. This is intimately related to the work of UN agency World Health Organization (WHO) but in some extent it also relates to the work being done by the Human Health department, division of nuclear medicine, of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In the article of Gutierrez-Villamil et al., some of the IAEA projects in Latin America and Caribbean region, impacting nuclear cardiology implementation and development, as part of the international effort to help fight against CVD mortality in the region, have been discussed. When you hear about an international agency that deals with atomic energy, what comes to your mind? Perhaps something related to atomic bombs, nuclear reactors, energy production, radioprotection, Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986, or more recently Fukushima Daiichi in Japan in 2011? Well, the IAEA deals with all of these and much more, including the use of atomic energy and technology applied to medicine to help preserve lives! It was created in 1957, as an autonomous organization, with the mandate to promote and help regulate the peaceful use of nuclear energy at the world level. Although autonomous, the IAEA is within the UN family and reports to its general assembly and security council. The IAEA is localized in a beautiful group of buildings, in the Vienna International Center at the UN headquarters in Austria. If you look from one of its many windows, towards the Danube, you might see groups of people, from different teams, rowing up and down that beautiful river. Let us keep this in mind when we think about teamwork.