Mogale City Executive Mayor Lynn Pannall encourages residents to take good care of their health ahead of World Heart Day on the 29th September.
“September is Heart Awareness Month. We are concerned that in our country more people die from heart diseases than are murdered. Around this time last year, the number of people who died of heart diseases stood at 210 per day when the murder rate was 49 people per day. Today, heart-related deaths come second to HIV/AIDS deaths and homicide follows in third place.
Therefore we need a concerted effort to raise awareness about high blood pressure, stress, obesity, high cholesterol as well as promote healthy living so that we can reduce heart-related deaths. Each one of us needs to get into the habit of eating healthily, exercise regularly and avoid smoking, alcohol abuse and taking drugs.
The bible says guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life,” said the mayor.
The mayor encourages Mogale City residents to work closely with her Social Upliftment team which is led by the newly-appointed Member of the Mayoral Committee for Social Development, Margaret Mohube.
The team has a special relationship with the Heart and Stroke Foundation through which joint awareness campaigns are conducted to highlight heart problems. In October 2016 there will be an event with the elderly to raise awareness and details thereof will be shared with the public soon.