For the past three years, World Heart Day was held in the University Hospital Centre (UHC) “Sestre milosrdnice”. World Heart Day is held every 29^th September and is the largest event of the World Heart Federation (WHF) supported by its members and partners around the world. A series of educational activities, control reviews for public and sports activities are organized, as a goal to raise public awareness of cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

CVD (heart disease and stroke) are still the leading cause of death and are responsible for 17.5 million deaths each year. (1) It is expected that by 2030, their number will grow to 23 million. (1) The Clinic for Heart and Cardiovascular Diseases of UHC “Sestre milosrdnice”, along with the Croatian Association of Cardiology Nurses, joined this year to mark the World Heart Day. During public health action for citizens, patients and visitors of UHC “Sestre milosrdnice” measured blood pressure, blood sugar, calculated body mass index, evaluated cardiovascular risk, shared educational leaflets, healthy biscuits and apples with a message: “Love instead of salt it won’t hurt the heart”. Physicians advised event visitors on their regular medication, blood cholesterol control and smoking cessation aswell as allowed alcohol and salt intake. Clinical physiotherapists from the Clinic for Heart and Cardiovascular Diseases stressed out the importance of maintaining physical activity and showed exercises that citizens can perform daily at home. Visitors were also advised on eating healthy foods, prepared with less sugar and salt, as well as their substitutions, by the nutritionists. At the end of this year’s action an educational workshop for nurses about preparing healthy desserts was held.

In the past three years, 728 of our citizens have responded to public health action. All visitors participated in a questionnaire and their age and gender, body mass index, physical activity, smoking data and cardiovascular risk factors were analyzed. The data will be presented on the poster.

The goal of the WHF is to reduce the premature mortality caused by CVD across the globe through public health actions. Together with their membership they believe in a world where heart health will be the basic human right for everyone, making it a fundamental element of global health justice, because every beat is important. Each year the action has a different motto. This year’s World Heart Day motto is “For my heart, for your heart, for all our hearts. Promise your heart.” In 2017, the motto was “Boost, run, love your Heart - Share energy” and in 2016 “Start up your life”. By marking the World Heart Day, we want to share the message and educate the public about the risks of CVD, the importance of preventing these diseases, and encourage the following thought: “If we enter a few minor changes into our lives, we can live a longer, better and healthier life for our heart.”