who created world heart day and when was it first celebrated
World Heart Federation About World Heart Day 2016 World Heart Day was founded in 2000 to inform people around the globe that heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading causes of death, claiming 17.5 million lives each year. World Heart Day takes place on 29 September every year. The theme of this year is power your life - we want everyone to understand what they can do to fuel their hearts and power their lives. We are also calling on global governments and policy makers to implement reliable, simple and fit-for-purpose surveillance systems for monitoring the burden and treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This World Heart Day we’ve joined forces with Bupa and Philips to make World Heart Day more powerful than ever. With their support, we are raising awareness and encouraging individuals, families, communities and governments to take action and help us to achieve our goal of a 25% reduction in premature deaths from CVD by 2025. Together, we aim to help people everywhere to live longer, better, heart-healthy lives. For more information about World Heart Day 2016 including access to the campaign materials visit the website.