The National Cardiothoracic Center Ghana, in collaboration with World Heart Federation has officially launched the World Heart Day awareness campaign, which commences on September 29, 2019 at the Swiss Spirit Alisa Hotel in Accra.

The theme for this year’s campaign against cardiovascular diseases is; ‘creating a global community of Heart Heroes’ and is geared towards people of all walks of life making basic lifestyle changes to ensure they have a healthy heart, as well as ensuring their relatives, friends, and co-workers follow the trail.

Present at the launch were Dr Abdul - Samed Tanko, the Head of Cardiology at the National Cardiothoracic Centre Korle Bu, Dr Lawrence Agyeman Sirebuor, the Director of National Cardiothoracic Center, Augustine Agyei Sefa, Acting deputy Commissioner of Human Resource, of the Ghana Revenue Authority, and other invited guests.

Dr Sirebuor gave a welcome address which covered the establishment and aims of the World Heart Day celebration.

“The World Heart day is celebrated annually on September 29, and this is a day that has been set by the World Heart Federation to celebrate World Heart Day. World Heart Day was inaugurated in the year 2000, which is about 19 years ago, and it’s the world’s biggest platform for raising awareness about cardiovascular diseases”, he said.

According to Dr. Sirebuor, cardiovascular diseases including stroke are the leading causes of death worldwide and as such demands awareness campaigns to educate people to maintain their health.

“The celebration of World Hearts Day provides the perfect platform for the cardiovascular disease community to unite in the fight against cardiovascular diseases and reduce the global disease burden”, he stated.

“Celebrating World’s Hearts Day also serves to inform people around the globe that cardiovascular diseases; including heart disease and stroke is the world’s leading cause of death, accounting for 17.9 million deaths annually”, he added.

The World Heart Day walk, which is part of the programme line-up to celebrate the World Heart Day has been slated for September 28, 2019, along with Heart- health screening, and inauguration of an Astro Turf in Newtown for a soccer match to mark the celebration.

Some supporting sponsors of this year’s World Heart Day awareness campaign are the Ghana Revenue Authority, GC Net, Afro – Arab, and Awake Mineral Water.