‘Make your heart promise’

WHO: The Heart Foundation of

Jamaica

WHAT: World Heart Day

THEME: ‘Make Your Heart Promise’ WHEN: September 29, 2018 WHERE: 28 Beechwood Ave

ON SEPTEMBER 29, The Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ), in association with the World Heart Federation (WHF), will celebrate World Heart Day. This year, the campaign includes a clear and simple call to action: ‘Make Your Heart Promise’. A promise as an individual to eat healthier, to do more exercise and encourage your children to be more active, to say no to smoking and help your loved ones to stop smoking. A simple promise for MY HEART, for YOUR HEART, for ALL OUR HEARTS.

“Eighty per cent of the premature deaths (aged 30 to 70) caused by cardiovascular disease (CVD) are preventable if risk factors are effectively controlled,” said Professor David Wood, president, WHF. According to the World Heart Organization (WHO), CVD is the world’s biggest killer, causing over 17.5 million deaths each year. The minister of health, Dr Christopher Tufton, stated in a 2017 Gleaner article (‘Jamaicans Urged, to adopt a healthy lifestyle to prevent heart disease’), CVD accounts for ‘34.8 per cent or 6,476 of all death in Jamaicans over five years old.”

The WHF and its member nations this World Heart Day will not only focus on the ‘Make Your Heart Promise’ call to action, but also raising awareness of the strong link between poor air quality and cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke. According to the WHO, seven million people die prematurely every year from air pollution, while 91 per cent of the world’s population live in areas where air pollution exceeds the WHO guideline limits. Pollution comes from automobile exhaust, burning garbage and landfills, and the smelting and processing of metals. These particles are able to penetrate deeply into the respiratory tract and therefore constitute a risk to health by increasing mortality from respiratory infections and diseases, lung cancer, and selected cardiovascular diseases.

In celebration of World Heart Day, The Heart Foundation of Jamaica will be raising awareness of the link between the environment, eating habits and lack of exercise to cardiovascular disease, from September 24-29. The foundation continues to urge Jamaicans to get screened and will be offering an electrocardiogram (ECG or heart test) special with complimentary body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and blood sugar tests during the week.

The HFJ joins the WHF and member nationals around the world to fight CVD by holding awareness activities and events, spreading the word on social media, and illuminating iconic landmarks, buildings or monuments.

The iconic venues turning red for World Heart Day include:

I Usain Bolt Statue, National Stadium, 6 p.m. on September 28

I Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt

I Niagara Falls, USA

I Jet d’Eau, Switzerland

I Tower of Hercules, Spain

I Bucharest Skytower, Romania

I Adelaide Oval, Australia

I Los Angeles Airport, USA

I El Ángel de la Independencia, Mexico

I Emirates Spinnaker Tower, UK Share your healthy lifestyle with the hashtags #WorldHeartDayJA and #WorldHeartDay.

Contact Monique Thompson, – public relations and communications Officer.

Tel: 906-9407, 334-4998 pro@heartfoundationja.org