 Globally, cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer globally in terms of numbers of people. About 17.5 million people died from cardiovascular diseases in 2012, almost equally half from heart attacks and the other half from strokes. Heart problems are common all over the world, but the death rate depends on where you live. There's a progressive decrease in mortality in developed nations, especially Western Europe and North America, but this same phenomenon is not happening in developing nations. High pretension, high cholesterol and tobacco smoking are some of the risk factors that lead to cardiovascular diseases. Using nuclear imaging techniques, health professionals can detect problems at an early stage. The International Atomic Energy Agency for the past several years have played the central role in promoting the use of technology, the use of cardiac imaging. Transferring knowledge and expertise is a key to combating heart and blood vessel diseases, especially in developing countries. Our goal is to support our professionals to improve the quality of practice and to better use the resources that they have available. The IAEA organized an international conference that brought together medical professionals from around the world to discuss the global improvement of cardiovascular care services. These people, 350 people that we've brought together in Vienna, can really be good ambassadors to take the word back to their countries, back to their academic institutions and really to spread this worldwide. These experts agreed that education, early detection and technology are vital to tackling this worldwide problem. In Vienna, Austria, this is Alexandra Anapanich reporting for the IAEA.