World Heart Day 2023: Date, Theme, History, Significance And Other Details

World Heart Day is an annual event observed every year on September 29. The day is a reminder to everyone around the world to take care of their hearts.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s number one killer, according to World Heart Federation (WHF).

Combined, conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels – such as heart attack, stroke and heart failure – kill more than 20.5 million every year. The majority of these deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries.

Spanning six continents, hundreds of World Heart Federation (WHF) member organizations, the countless schools, universities, sports clubs and the vibrant cardiology community make World Heart Day (WHD) a truly global celebration.

Here's all you need to know about World Heart Day 2023:

The theme for this year's World Heart Day is "Use Heart, Know Heart" (USE ❤️ KNOW ❤️). This year’s campaign focuses on the essential step of knowing our hearts first.

According to WHF, visual language is a part of our daily lives. Emojis are one of the most popular forms of communications today, especially amongst younger generations, helping retain people’s attention and transcending language barriers.

In the year 2000, World Heart Day was established in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO). The reason was to create a day that would raise awareness and mobilize international action against cardiovascular disease. In 2011, World Heart Day became an annual event.

World Heart Day launched #UseHeart in the year 2020 to encourage everyone to think about the many ways they can use the biggest and most important muscle in their body.

According to the information available on WHO's website, here are some key facts:

• Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally.

• An estimated 17.9 million people died from CVDs in 2019, representing 32% of all global deaths. Of these deaths, 85% were due to heart attack and stroke.

• Over three-quarters of CVD deaths take place in low- and middle-income countries.

• Out of the 17 million premature deaths (under the age of 70) due to noncommunicable diseases in 2019, 38% were caused by CVDs.

• Most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by addressing behavioural risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet and obesity, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol.

• It is important to detect cardiovascular disease as early as possible so that management with counselling and medicines can begin.