Georgia’s Go Red Campaign Protects Women’s Heart Health

The Go Red for Women’s little red dress is getting lots of attention in February. It is heart awareness month and Georgia women are leading the way to heart health.

The Georgia Department of Public Health’s (DPH) Health Promotion and Disease Protection program is galvanizing women in Public Health and Georgia to reduce heart disease by joining the Go Red for Women campaign and movement. On February 3, the American Heart Association (AHA) and DPH encourage Georgians to wear red to show their support for women’s heart health.

There is one mission in mind – to encourage awareness of the issue of women and heart disease and save more lives. Since its inception, Go Red for Women has mobilized women by using the energy, passion and power of women to band together and collectively wipe out heart disease. The campaign challenges women to know their risk for heart disease and take action to reduce their personal risks. It also gives them the tools they need to lead a heart-healthy life.

Heart disease among women is not a new health crisis, but there is a perception of whether women should be concerned more than men. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is sometimes thought of as a “man’s disease,” but the same number of women and men die each year of heart disease in the United States and heart disease is the number one killer of women in the U.S.

Each year, close to 450,000 women have heart attacks and 267,000 die from the attack. The AHA felt women were not paying attention to their heart health. In 2004, the AHA organization launched Go Red for Women – a passionate, emotional, and social initiative - to empower more women to take charge of their heart health.

Heart disease and stroke account for 30 percent of all female deaths in Georgia. On average, nearly 28 women die from heart disease and stroke in Georgia each day.

DPH continues to make cardiovascular disease an important health priority in local public health departments. In 2009, Public Health Districts 1-1, 5-1, and 8-1 reported more than 9% of adults with a history of heart attack, stroke or coronary heart disease. That year, leading risk factors for heart disease included smoking, lack of exercise and physical activity, lack of the five daily fruits and vegetables, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

The success of Go Red for Women is saving lives as two million women have learned their personal risk of developing heart disease by taking the Go Red Heart Check-up.

DPH and AHA are encouraged that most women who a part of Go Red for Women will continue to take action to mitigate heart disease. These women are more likely to follow their doctor’s advice - from losing weight to taking medications as prescribed. Ninety-one percent of them visited their doctor in the last 12 months. Sixty-one percent follow a regular exercise routine. Eighty-four percent have talked to other women or friends about their heart health. Ninety percent have had their blood pressure checked in the last year. Seventy-five percent have had their cholesterol checked in the last year.

As women join the Go Red for Women movement, the American Heart Association is hoping to reach their strategic goal of reducing death and disability from cardiovascular disease and stroke by 20 percent while improving the cardiovascular health for all Americans by 20 percent by the year 2020.

If you are a woman or you know women who can benefit from knowing more about their heart health, give the best gift of life and advise them to see their doctor and reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease. They can also learn more about their heart health by joining Go for Red Women at http://www.goredforwomen.org/.

Wear red on February 3 to show your support for the fight against heart disease. And, to every woman in Georgia, protect your heart for life.

 
-Story by Connie F. Smith, DPH Communications

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