Stuart Zullo 
February is Heart Research Month. Heart disease is the largest killer of Australians, affecting 2 out of 3 families. Heart Research Month aims to raise awareness about the impact of heart disease, and the need for continuing research. Heart Research Australia focus on obtaining funds to conduct the research that will find breakthrough treatments for heart disease.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Australia’s Health 2012, four times as many women die from Coronary Heart Disease (heart attack and angina) than breast cancer, and three times as many men die from Coronary Heart Disease (heart attack and angina) than prostate cancer. The www.heartresearch.com.au website lists several factors which can be modified to reduce your risk of heart disease. These include lifestyle factors, such as tobacco smoking, physical inactivity poor diet, excessive alcohol consumption, as well as biomedical factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and being overweight or obese.
By donating to Heart Research Australia during Heart Research Month, your money will go towards one or more of the following vital activities:
- Providing seed funding for new ideas that could lead to breakthroughs in treating heart disease.
- Funding clinical studies on novel ways to prevent heart attack and stroke – research that is likely to change the way we think about prevention.
- Supporting cardiac rehabilitation and education programs at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital.
- Funding PhD students to do groundbreaking research.
- Funding two Professorial Chairs of Cardiology at the University of Sydney.
- Supporting clinical trials that could prevent major health problems in preterm babies.
- Providing leading-edge research equipment for our cardiac laboratories.
Whether you’d like to make a donation, or find more information about the work of Heart Research Australia, please check out their website at http://www.heartresearch.com.au/index.html. We’d love all Liverpool residents to support this very worthy cause, and of course share the link to raise awareness amongst your own friends and families.