The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa (HSFSA) have geared up to commemorate Heart Awareness Month (HAM) in September, Cape {town} Etc reports.
The HSFSA aims to make a ‘significant impact’ on heart disease awareness, as HAM is one of their key campaign events.
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In addition, the campaign strategy also aims to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
As 29 September is World Heart Day (WHD), it is expected that the Foundation’s HAM campaign will culminate in WHD 2024.
The HSFSA will align with the World Heart Federation on WHD and by embracing the global theme, the foundation will underscore the need for ‘sustained collaboration and collective action’ to achieve lasting impact.
CVD statistics of the mortality and morbidity rates in South Africa have been deemed ‘alarming’, with the country still facing a ‘crisis of CVD burden’.
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) in 2020 have highlighted mortality trends, indicating that Diabetes Mellitus, hypertensive disease, cerebrovascular disease and heart disease are marked in the top 10 leading natural causes of death in South Africa.
These conditions have added up to an estimated 17% of all reported deaths in 2020.
Professor Pamela Naidoo, HSFSA CEO, along with key stakeholders, have realized that the South African public ‘does not fully understand the complexity of CVD’.
‘There are many medical conditions that constitute the cluster of CVDs,’ said Naidoo.
As a starting point, Naidoo conceptualized the focus on heart failure as there are many misconceptions surrounding heart failure.
Over a four-week period in September, each week will have an exclusive but related theme on Heart Failure.
The themes are as follows:
- Week one: What is heart failure?
- Week Two: The causes of heart failure
- Week three: Management of heart failure and living with heart failure
- Week four: Diabetes type 2 and other risk factors for heart failure
Both men and women experience heart failure, but men tend to develop it at a younger age, while women tend to experience worse symptoms.
Research has indicated that individuals of African origin have an estimated 19% higher risk of developing heart failure than those of European origin.
Shonisani Nephalama, HSFSA Nutrition Science Team Lead, stated that healthy eating patterns are ‘inversely associated’ with incident hypertension and could potentially offer protection against heart failure.
These eating patterns include Mediterranean, whole grain, and plant-based diets, as well as Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets.
Nephalama has also encouraged the public to look out for the Foundations Heart Mark logo on food products which is an indication that the Foundation has ‘endorsed the product as being a healthy food choice’.
Throughout September, the Foundation’s health care practitioners have planned many activities in community-based settings in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng.
Health talks and health risk assessments (HRAs) will also be provided.
The Foundation underlined the crucial importance of understanding your risk for CVDs, such as regular cardiovascular screenings that are vital to knowing your key health indicators.
These include blood pressure, blood glucose levels, blood cholesterol levels and BMI.
Through monitoring these numbers, an individual can significantly reduce their chances of developing heart attacks, strokes, and other CVDs.
This year, the global theme for World Heart Day is ‘Use Heart For Action’ and is driven by the World Heart Federation (WHF), of which the HSFSA is a member.
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