The Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF) on Wednesday partnered the Nollywood Stars to create more awareness against heart diseases and ways to ensure healthy heart.
The Executive Director of NHF, Dr Kingsley Akinroye, at the World Heart Day 2021 commemoration in Lagos, decried that many Nigerians were still careless about heart health.
Speaking on the topic, “Spreading the Message,: Everybody on Board”, Akinroye said that the influence of Nollywood industry in passing massages remain huge, hence the need to use the channel in order to reduce heart-related diseases.
According to him, despite the fact that the foundation has done a lot on awareness campaigns, many Nigerians are not still aware that, globally, heart disease is the number one cause of death worldwide, claiming 18.6m lives per year.
“In collaboration with World Heart Federation members, including Nigerian Heart Foundation, World Heart Day spreads the news that at least 80 per cent of premature death from heart disease could be avoided if 5 (five) main risk factors -tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol and air pollution are controlled.”
“Heart disease has many causes from smoking to diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and air pollution. Over the last ten years in Nigeria the proportion of people suffering from the above risk factors are rising sporadically.
“To fight these, through the World Heart Day, Nigerian Heart Foundation is calling not only for individual behavior change but for a whole of societal change; and this needs Change Agents to effect, drive and sustain the change; through the spread of awareness and advocacy.
“The 2021 World Heart Day’s theme is “Use Heart to Connect”, thus Nigerian Heart Foundation is asking individuals, professionals, like the Actors and Actresses, communities and government to “Use Heart to Connect” to make informed choices for society, our loved ones and ourselves,” he said.
The NHF boss said that the 2021 theme was a call to action about using our head, influence and compassion to beat heart disease-the Nigeria number one killer.
According to him, over the last 18 months, the Nollywood industry has lost a lot of Stars and the NHF is calling for a change in the trend.
Akinroye said the NHF has decided to work with the Actors Guild of Nigeria, 10 Nollywood members have been nominated as Ambassadors of NHF to propagate the advocacy and awareness on heart disease.
He said that Segun Odegbami, a Soccer Legend remained a long-standing Ambassador of the NHF, who had been working among school children and youth in Nigeria on prevention of heart diseases.
The director called on telecommunication operators to find and develop the infrastructure to reach disconnected hearts everywhere, adding that the government needed to prioritise heart health in policies, digital infrastructure to improve telemedicine.
Akinroye also called on the government to strengthen pharmaceutical industries in making drugs affordable and accessible.
In his response, Moji Oyetayo, popularly known as Mama Ajasco, who spoke on behalf of other NHF ambassadors, said that that the messages about heart diseases and ways to ensure heart health would get to doorsteps of Nigerians through scripts and other media.
Oyetayo, the immediate past Chairman, Actors Guild of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter, said that the ambassadors would not take the task of creating awareness about heart diseases for granted.
She said: “My colleagues and I are extremely grateful to come on board at this time. This is the time the entertainment industry is losing a lot of giants due to various health issues. This is most timely to do.
“We are going to use various platforms to reach more people especially the youth on behaviors that affect their hearts. People also believe everything we say in Nollywood, we will pass the message on the way to healthy hearts.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that World Heart Day is commemorates annually on September 29 and the theme of the 2021 edition is ‘Use Heart to Connect.’
NHF presented certificates of recognition to the Nollywood Stars as Brand Ambassador in appreciation of their contributions to the promotion of heart health.
