World Heart Day 2015 – Creating healthy environments for the heart | VHL Regional Portal

World Heart Day 2015 – Creating healthy environments for the heart

world heart day
The World Heart Day is celebrated every year on September 29th, and it is the largest world event to tackle cardiovascular disease. In this year 2015, the campaign theme is “Creating healthy environments for the heart” to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to make healthy choices for the heart where they live, work and play. The aim is to reduce cardiovascular risks for people around the world and promote healthy environments for all.

Cardiovascular diseases – including acute myocardial infarction and stroke – are the leading cause of death worldwide, currently responsible for 17.3 million deaths per year, a number expected to reach 23 million by 2030. To give an idea of ​​the dimension of this problem, deaths from malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis combined sum 3.86 million/year. Most of these diseases, however, can be prevented by reducing risk factors, such as the use of tobacco products, poor diet and physical inactivity.

Scientific and technical literature

BIREME / PAHO / WHO recommends access to documents and sources of scientific and technical information in the Virtual Health Library (VHL) related to World Heart Day.

Links of interest

World Heart Federation

PAHO Health topics – cardiovascular diseases 

PAHO/WHO Program – cardiovascular disease

Las enfermedades cardiovasculares en las Américas  (in Spanish)

PAHO Health topics – Hypertension