The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa aims to improve cardiovascular health through lifestyle and education tools, says Sophia Kurz.
In South Africa, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is responsible for almost one in six deaths, while 225 people die every day from heart disease or stroke. Ten people an hour suffer a stroke in the country, yet 80 per cent of heart attacks and strokes can be prevented.
Many people are unaware that lifestyle changes can dramatically improve cardiovascular health.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa aims to halt the rise of premature deaths through cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) by promoting the adoption of healthy lifestyles.
Since its inception, the Foundation’s goals have been to provide information, tools, and support to build healthy communities, advocate at all levels to minimise South Africans’ risk of developing heart disease and stroke, and support research for improved tools and methods of CVD prevention.
Cardiovascular disease is a condition that affects the heart or blood vessels. There are four different ways that this disease may manifest itself, including coronary heart disease, strokes or transient ischaemic attack (TIA), peripheral arterial disease, and aortic disease.
Cerebrovascular disease is similar to cardiovascular disease. A condition that affects the blood vessels and blood supply of the brain, it may present itself in a variety of ways, including strokes and TIA, but also aneurysms and vascular malformation.
Current CEO of the Foundation, Professor Pamela Naidoo, says that the Foundation has had a “very productive” first quarter of 2021, but there’s still more to accomplish.
Getting the message across
Rapid urbanisation in South Africa has seen a change in food consumption patterns where people are consuming more kilojoules, sugary beverages, processed food, and fewer fruit and vegetables. This, in combination with other rising CVD risk factors such as physical inactivity and tobacco smoking, has resulted in a steady increase in deaths due to CVD in recent years. CVD places additional pressure on an already heavily-burdened healthcare system and impacts the livelihood of many South African households.
The Foundation has developed various programmes to promote cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health. The Health Promotions Programme sets out to encourage South Africans to adopt healthier lifestyles by educating and advising them on CVD. The Nutrition Science Programme aims to ensure that all nutritional information that the Foundation communicates to the South African public is understandable, evidence-based, and practical.
But changing lifetime habits doesn’t happen overnight. Many of these health messages are complex, so the Foundation aims to nudge changes to unhealthy behaviour by consistent and clear messaging. Despite the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Foundation is still innovating.
“Our focus on common risk factors indirectly assists in reducing the burden for other disease conditions, such as COVID-19,” says Professor Naidoo. “Our public health messaging about the ill-effects of tobacco smoking, excessive alcohol abuse, poor diet, physical inactivity, hypertension, obesity and diabetes Type II has educated the broader public and our specific target groups about how to develop health behaviours to achieve better health outcomes.”
Professor Naidoo is a Registered Clinical Psychologist and holds a Master’s in Public Health, as well as a Doctorate in Philosophy (Behavioural Medicine). She is a public health specialist with 29 years’ experience in the health sector across non-communicable and communicable diseases.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – a collective term for cardiovascular disease (CVD), cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and mental disorders – are the leading cause of deaths worldwide. NCDs cause more than 60 per cent of the world’s deaths, 80 per cent of which occur in developing countries like South Africa. It is anticipated that by 2030 NCDs will overtake all other causes of death in Africa.
“The epidemiological pattern of NCDs, CVD in particular, makes us relevant and indeed provides the impetus for the work we do at the Foundation,” she says. ‘The complexities that drive the modifiable and unmodifiable risk factors for CVD sets the backdrop for our programmes and indeed our multiple valuable partnerships both locally and abroad.
“By driving education and public awareness campaigns to further raise interest and share information on CVD prevention, we empower members of the public to take charge of their health status.”
Despite the current pandemic challenges, the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa continues to operate ‘with heart’ towards impacting the health of South Africans as individuals and as a nation.