Healthy diet and physical activity
As an advocate of putting cardiovascular disease and its risk factors on the global health agenda, the World Heart Federation strongly supports initiatives addressing obesity, healthy diet and physical activity.
Discover some figures about the obesity phenomenon:
In order to sustain its advocacy activities on these topics, the World Heart Federation has developed partnerships and alliances with various organizations in order to attain the common goal of promoting healthy diets and habits and reducing obesity.
Read the World Heart Federation statement on obesity.
WHO partnership: the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health
The World Heart Federation supports the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. The initiative emphasizes the need to limit the intake of certain fats, sugars and salt, and increase consumption of fruits and vegetables and levels of physical activity.
The Global Alliance for the Prevention of Obesity and Related Chronic Diseases
The Global Alliance for the Prevention of Obesity and Related Chronic Diseases was established between five nongovernmental organizations, among them the World Heart Federation, that were concerned with chronic diseases and formally linked to the WHO. The purpose of the coalition is to help translate WHO policy into actions. The alliance is sustained through the voluntary efforts of its NGO partners and national and regional NGOs.
Global Alliance on Physical Activity (GAPA)
The World Heart Federation is involved in the Global Advocacy on Physical Activity (GAPA), which aims at supporting countries’ and NGOs’ efforts to promote physical activity to help reduce the burden of chronic diseases.
The World Heart Federation has participated in GAPA meetings. The objectives of these meetings were to discuss the role of nongovernmental organizations in incorporating physical activity and health promotion into public health systems, define their role in implementing physical activity strategies in developing countries and coordinate existing strategies and programmes run by participating organizations in relation to the WHO Global Strategy.
Read the related Heartbeat article on the promotion of physical activity worldwide >
United Nations (UN) Sport for Development and Peace
The UN Office on Sport for Development and Peace and the World Heart Federation share the common view that sport and physical activity are crucial for life-long healthy living. Physical activity improves health and well-being, extends life expectancy and reduces the likelihood of heart disease. This Office collaborates with the World Heart Federation to promote physical activity, with a particular focus on World Heart Day.
Move for Health
The World Heart Federation also supports the Move for Health Day, a WHO initiative that urges WHO member states to celebrate a Move for Health Day each year to promote physical activity as essential for health and well-being.
World Heart Day
Each year, the World Heart Federation coordinates a global campaign on the last Sunday in September--World Heart Day--to promote prevention of cardiovascular disease through healthy habits.
Go Red for Women
Based on a successful campaign run by the American Heart Association, this World Heart Federation campaign places an emphasis on helping women to reduce their risk for heart disease--the number one killer of women worldwide--by taking steps to adopt healthier lifestyles.
