Health
Heart Foundation Urges Healthy Lifestyle To Prevent Premature Deaths
By Kemi Akintokun
The Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF) on Tuesday urged Nigerians, especially young people, to adopt healthy lifestyles to prevent heart disease and premature deaths.
The Executive Director of NHF, Dr Kingsley Akinroye, made the call at a programme organised by the organisation to commemorate the 2026 World Heart Day, with the theme, “Don’t Miss a Beat.”
Akinroye said World Heart Day was an important opportunity to raise awareness about heart disease and encourage people to take steps towards protecting their hearts.
He noted that the heart could function for many years when people adopt healthy lifestyles and deliberate steps to protect their cardiovascular health.
“The heart is the most important organ in the body. It starts beating from the womb and beats until death.
“We can live as long as we wish. We can live from day one to 100 years if we take care of our heart,” he said.
Akinroye said heart disease was a major cause of death globally, adding that many symptoms could remain unnoticed until the condition became serious.
“Heart disease is a very silent killer. It does not make noise like malaria, diarrhoea or cholera.
“Many symptoms of heart disease are ignored or dismissed, hence the need for increased and continuous awareness, and early attention to possible warning signs,” he said
According to him, the 2026 campaign is focused on taking heart health awareness from the classroom to families and communities through young people.
The Executive Director identified five major risk factors for heart disease as cigarette smoking, unhealthy diet, inadequate physical activity, alcohol consumption and air pollution.
He urged Nigerians to engage in regular physical activity, saying exercise could be undertaken both in schools and at home through simple activities such as walking.
Akinroye also warned against exposure to air pollution, including fumes from vehicles, cooking and industrial activities, urging people to avoid harmful smoke and other pollutants.
He, however, called for a national plan to address the rising burden of cardiovascular and improve access to treatment for people living with heart disease.
According to him, some medicines for heart disease are expensive, adding that government can consider making treatment more accessible to people affected by the condition.
“Without a national plan and everybody getting access to treatment, the number of people dying from heart disease will keep rising.
“Nigerians, especially young people, must engage government leaders on the need to improve access to heart disease treatment and medicines.”
Akinroye added that NHF had directed this year’s World Heart Day activities toward schools to promote heart-health values among children from an early age.
He explained that heart disease could begin early in life and accumulate over the years, stressing the importance of adopting preventive measures from childhood.
The expert urged the students at the programme to become ambassadors of heart health by sharing the knowledge acquired with their parents, families, friends, schools and communities.
“The focus is to bring heart health back to the grassroots and to catch people young, thereby instilling heart health values in students from a young age.
“We want healthy diets to be in schools. We do not want junk foods in schools again. We want food that you take from home to be very healthy,” he said .
The executive director urged students to make regular exercise part of their daily routine, noting that simple activities such as walking with parents, could contribute to a healthy lifestyle.(NAN)
Edited by Vivian Ihechu
