The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa (HSFSA) team in the Western Cape will be hosting an event to commemorate World Heart Day at the V&A Amphitheatre, at the V&A Waterfront on Sunday.
This comes as Heart Awareness Month concludes in September with World Heart Day, which is celebrated on September 29.
As a member of the World Heart Federation (WHF), the HSFSA aligns with the organisation's global theme: “Use Heart for Action”.
The theme is an open one and the main aim is to encourage individuals to take responsibility for their heart health, and also form a part of advocacy efforts for stronger health policies and initiatives to reduce the burden of disease.
The vision of HSFSA is to promote cardiovascular health and cerebrovascular health through advocacy, influencing policy, providing information, tools, and support, which is aligned with the theme driven by the WHF.
World Heart Day allows the foundation and many other national, local and global organisations to join hands in a unified effort to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease by empowering people to adopt healthy behaviours and seek appropriate care early in the onset of disease, and over the life course.
The foundation goes further by assisting people to adopt and make healthier food choices easier by purchasing products with our Heart Mark logo which forms a part of our Heart Mark Endorsement Programme.
The event which begins at 10am on Sunday, will host a plethora of well-known stakeholders, including the Head of Cardiology, Prof Ntsekhe, who will impart knowledge on heart health, and address prevention measures.
The event will also showcase a fun-filled fitness variety act that promotes healthy choices as well as a focussed view on the stakeholders and their roles within the organisation.
In addition, a few patient voices (those affected by CVD) will relay their lived experience of CVD and also speak about the management of their chronic conditions.