Who to call attention to heart disease in women?

The World Health Organization (WHO), together with the World Heart Federation and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), is helping organize several activities to publicize the need for women to lead healthy lifestyles and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The activities are part of World Heart Day, which will be celebrated Sunday, Sept. 28, 2003. The theme for this year is "Women, Heart Disease and Stroke."

More than 60 percent of women identify breast cancer as their greatest health concern, but deaths among women from heart disease and stroke outnumber deaths from breast cancer by a ratio of eight to one. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes 8.5 million deaths among women annually and is the largest single cause of mortality among women, accounting for a third of all deaths in women worldwide.

Physical inactivity plays a leading role in CVD, doubling the risk of developing heart disease and increasing the risk of hypertension by 30 percent. As many as 85 percent of the world's people, especially girls and women, are not physically active enough to gain health benefits. A WHO cross-national study shows that in all European Union member states, boys are more physically active than girls. Current prevalence data from individual national studies suggests that the range of obesity prevalence in a majority of countries is higher among women.

For more information about World Heart Day, visit the WHO Web site, www.who.int.