About this campaign:

The 2022 Global Heart Hub Heart Failure Awareness Week Campaign aims to raise awareness of heart failure and highlight what it is like to be living with heart failure. Our campaign this year focuses on sharing ‘Heart to Heart’ personal experiences through patient stories, impactful statements and symptom awareness through our ‘Heart to Heart’ theme: 

• Patient quotes: Sharing personal stories from people living with, or affected by, heart failure.
• Impactful statements: To encourage people to be more responsive and understanding of Heart Failure.
• Symptom awareness: To educate people during Heart Failure Awareness Week, so people can know the early signs of Heart Failure.

This year, our campaign toolkit is purpose-built for localisation so that each patient organisation has a creative framework that gives them the freedom to promote this campaign in their own words, while also being wholly aligned to an overarching campaign.

The awareness campaign is led by the Heart Failure Patient Council of the Global Heart Hub. The Heart Failure Patient Council is an alliance of patient organisations from across the globe, working with heart failure patients and their carers.

Key messages:

• Heart failure is a serious chronic condition, but it doesn’t have to stop you from living. You see, Heart Failure doesn’t mean your heart is about to stop. It just means your heart muscle isn’t pumping blood as well as it should. It is estimated that 60 million people worldwide are living with heart failure today, and with the right medication and lifestyle, it can be controlled. 
• If you are living with heart failure, there are lots of things that you can do to help manage your condition, including medical treatments, adjusting your lifestyle and self-management. For example:
  • Connect regularly with your heart failure nurse or doctor (see our virtual patient guide for online calls)
  • Track your symptoms and seek help if you develop new or worsening symptoms (see our heart failure symptom tracker) 
  • Take your medications as prescribed
  • Eat a healthy diet, with limited salt intake
  • Get regular physical activity
  • Join a support group for people living with heart failure

Sample Editorial Calendar (May 2022)

Seesampleeditorialcalendarbelow. You can use the hashtag #HeartFailureAwareness and #HearttoHeart along with the hashtag in your local language. Please also tag @globalhearthub so we can reshare your content.

Tipsforpromotingthe#HeartFailureAwarenesscampaign:

• Createalandingpageonyourwebsitewith information on the campaign and links to your heart failure resources. You can also use this link when sharing information on the campaign across your social media channels.
• Usethecampaignhashtag– it is very important to include the campaign hashtag (in your local language) in all your social media posts to help increase the reach – #HeartFailureAwareness #HearttoHeart.
• Reshareposts– search for the #HeartFailureAwareness hashtag (or hashtag in your local language) on social media and use it to engage with other patient organisations that are taking part in the campaign.
• Identifyheartfailurepatientstoriesfrom your country. Share these impactful stories in the media, capture images or share a selfie from the patient too (with consent).
• Identityhealthcareprofessionalswho will support this campaign – you could use local healthcare professionals to provide a quote or interview in support of this campaign.
• Logos – The toolkit contains the Heart Failure Patient Council logo in both .jpeg and .png formats. We have also provided you with an Affiliate of the Global Heart Hub logo, which you can use on your website and for this campaign.

About Heart Failure:

• Heart failure is a serious chronic condition where the heart cannot pump enough blood to support the needs of other organs in the body. 
• The most common causes of heart failure include coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction (heart attack), congenital heart defects, or damaged heart valves. Symptoms include breathlessness, fatigue and swollen limbs. It is estimated that 1 in 5 people are at risk of heart failure and it is the most frequent cause of hospitalisation in people over the age of 65.

Why creating awareness about Heart Failure is so important

The Heart Failure Patient Council is united in the view that heart failure is poorly recognised and not well understood by both the general public and healthcare professionals. There is global consensus that:

• The early signs and symptoms of heart failure are often dismissed as normal signs of ageing and thus overlooked as early presentation of the disease.
• There are significant gaps in access to diagnostics in primary care, which result in inequities and delays in diagnosis. Heart failure diagnoses are frequently made late and often the patient has developed acute disease.
• There is considerable variation and inequity of access to international best practice and specialist care, including access to heart failure nurse specialists (both in hospital and in the community).
• Failure and delays in recognising and treating heart failure appropriately is contributing to high hospital admission and re-admission rates, with  consequential economic burden on healthcare systems and huge impact on patients and carers.

Know The Symptoms of Heart Failure

Heart failure can affect different people in different ways. Symptoms can come on suddenly and be initially severe (acute heart failure) or they can appear over time and gradually get worse (chronic heart failure). If you have heart failure, you may have one, or a combination, of these symptoms. The more common symptoms of heart disease are:

• Coughing/wheezing
• Extreme tiredness or no energy
• Loss of appetite
• More frequent urination, especially at night
• Rapid heartbeat or palpitations
• Shortness of breath
• Shortness of breath, even when lying down
• Swelling in the ankles/feet/stomach
• Weight gain over a short period of time (>2kg over 2 days)

By themselves, any one sign of heart failure may not be cause for alarm. But if you have one or more of these symptoms, even if you haven’t been diagnosed with any heart problems, you should visit your GP and ask the question “Could I have heart failure?”.