World Heart Federation
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JUMP-STARTING BETTER HEART AND STROKE AWARENESS IN SOUTH AFRICA


The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa (HSFSA) launched an innovative awareness campaign on 1 March called “I Love This”.  It is one of the biggest heart and stroke awareness campaigns in the country, to date, and aims to raise funds for the Foundation’s national community programmes, support research and save lives from heart disease and stroke, the number one non-infectious killers in South Africa.

Using celebrities to raise awareness

The campaign is led by six of South Africa’s most popular celebrities who will act as ambassadors. They are well known radio DJ’s, television presenters, former Miss South Africa and runner-up from a TV talent show 2010’s Idols. The campaign was kicked-off by Lloyd Cele, our South African Idols star, who took a brave bungee jump from the World Soccer Stadium in Durban to show his support and encourage people to live healthier lives.

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Clicks stores, a retailer with a national footprint, the South African public can buy the campaign’s “I Love This” stickers nationwide. Members of the public are invited to place their sticker on something/ someone they really love, take a picture, and upload it on the campaign’s Facebook site to stand a chance of winning an experience of their choice. There is also a competition running where the public can guess where South Africa’s most popular DJ (who has the highest number of followers and friends on Facebook and Twitter in the country!) will place his sticker.

Innovative communication strategies

This year the campaign is innovative in that it is addressing the public not only through traditional methods but also through social media networks. As emphasised by Dr Mungal-Singh, CEO of the HSFSA, “We are making the most of the social networks like Twitter and Facebook to help get the message out there. Our aim is to create an interactive campaign and initiate conversations throughout the country. We, through this campaign, encourage South Africans to come forward and honour those lost to cardiovascular disease, celebrate the survivors, remind loved ones to take care of their health, and ultimately celebrate life and what they love.”


For more information visit the Foundation's "I Love This" Facebook page >

or go to: www.ilovethis.co.za.

 

 

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