The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa (HSFSA) is powering up this September for Heart Awareness Month (HAM).
HSFSA aims to reach the global goal of reducing premature deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) by 25 per cent by the year 2025.
•Why a whole month for HAM?
Heart disease is the world’s number one killer, claiming nearly 17 million lives every year.
Although the incidence of heart disease has steadily declined in high-income countries, the burden on middle and low-income countries has never been greater.
In South Africa, the burden of heart disease and stroke follows HIV and AIDS.
In South Africa, one in every five deaths is caused by heart diseases and strokes, totaling nearly 82 000 lives lost annually.
Despite advances in medical care, contributing factors such as high blood pressure, obesity, a poor diet, lack of exercise and pollution are all on the rise.
Tobacco use has decreased but 37 per cent of men and seven per cent of women in South Africa are still regular smokers, tripling their risk of heart disease.
Heart disease in South Africa is further exacerbated by inequality.
While high blood pressure is common across socio-economic groups, awareness and appropriate treatment are much lower among people living in poverty.
Making healthier choices to eat better, stop smoking or to get active are far less achievable to South Africans trapped in poverty.
•Is South Africa ready for 25 by 25?
The World Health Organization has set nine global targets to address lifestyle-related diseases.
One of these goals is a 25 per cent reduction in premature heart disease and a 25 per cent reduction in blood pressure by 2025.
•Can this be achieved within the South African context?
Over the last 25 years, neither heart disease nor blood pressure levels have improved in South Africa.
In fact, given that more people are overweight and have high blood pressure (hypertension) now than ever before, South Africa may even see an increase in heart disease as overweight, obesity and hypertension are known contributors to cardiovascular (CVD) disease.
To reduce the burden of heart disease, we need to encourage lifestyle changes in SA.
This starts with encouraging South Africans to eat nutritious food, drink less alcohol, exercise more, manage day-to-day stress and giving up tobacco smoking.
Early detection and diagnosis of CVD, treatment of hypertension, raised cholesterol (especially bad cholesterol-LDL), and managing diabetes can further help to prevent the onset of heart disease. Together, these factors can prevent up to 80 per cent of all heart diseases before the age of 70 years if the individuals affected adopt healthy behaviours.
Heart Awareness Month (HAM) is earmarked by the HSFSA every year to encourage South Africans to re-evaluate their heart health and to start adopting healthy behaviors to take back control, and power their lives.
• Getting to the hearts of young people in SA
The damage inside blood vessels that leads to most heart disease already starts in childhood. Healthy lifestyles in childhood, therefore, has a direct positive effect on heart health but even more importantly, it often creates a blueprint for lifestyle choices made in adulthood.
10 per cent of boys and 22 per cent of girls between the ages of 10 and 14 years are overweight.
One South African study found girls who were obese between the ages of four and eight were 40 times more likely to be obese when they finished high school.
Numerous primary school children eat unhealthy foods on a daily basis and don’t participate in enough physical activity.
To start Heart Awareness Month, the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa is raising awareness among young South Africans of the importance of keeping their hearts healthy.
The HSFSA selected 13 schools, nationally, to participate in the Skip Smart for your Heart Schools Programme between August and September 2017.
The Skip Smart for your Heart Schools Programme aims to inform primary school children about the importance of their heart and brain health and what they can do to take care of these vital organs by eating smart, breathing fresh air, avoiding tobacco smoke and being physically active.
Children will be further encouraged to exercise by being given a free skipping rope and a guest appearance from Hearty, the HSFSA mascot. Hearty teaches simple exercise moves.
Hearty enacts five simple but necessary exercises we can all use daily.
Finally, the HSFSA will showcase a performance from a professional skipper to captivate the learners with extraordinary tricks and skills using a mere skipping rope, thus making moving more a cool and aspirational thing to do.
• Caring for adult hearts – get tested for free
Less than 50 per cent of South Africa adults living with high blood pressure (hypertension) is unaware of their condition.
The prevalence of hypertension is said to be around 45 per cent of adults.
Similarly, many people who are pre-diabetic and have raised cholesterol are unaware, and as a result, do not improve their lifestyles nor gain access to medication.
Blood pressure should be checked at least annually for all adults and blood glucose annually when overweight.
Many people are unaware of the dangers of hypertension, prefer to postpone getting a medical check or simply cannot afford to get tested.
Professor Pamela Naidoo, CEO of the HSFSA, urged all South Africans to have a Health Risk Assessment done free during HAM at all Dis-Chem Pharmacies.
Prof Naidoo expressed her gratitude to Dis-Chem Pharmacies for partnering with the HSFSA to raise awareness of CVD and to mobilise communities to know their diagnosis and get treatment when necessary.
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