Considering the dire need to curb the steady rise in the incidence of heart diseases – hypertension and heart failure in India, JB Pharma has initiated the public awareness campaign #Heart2HeartChallengeIndia with the support of HEAL Foundation to spread awareness amongst the masses to check whether their hearts are healthy or not by involving simple steps.

The #Heart2HeartChallengeIndia campaign is very simple – you have to climb 60 steps (4 floors) in a minute, make a video of it, share it on your social media, tag 5 people, inviting them to take this challenge to check their heart health. 

The purpose of this campaign is to drive awareness on checking heart health individually because if one is unable to climb 60 steps (4 floors) in 1 minute, it is the primary sign that one’s heart is suboptimal (not working well) as the European Society of Cardiology has demonstrated. And it would be a good idea to consult a doctor and get your BP checked, to take preventive or curative measures whatsoever required to keep your heart healthy.

Dilip Singh Rathore, President – India Business, JB Pharma said, “As per the WHO report, nearly 63% of total deaths in India are due to non-communicable diseases, of which 27% are attributed to cardiovascular disease (CVD) which affects 45% of people in the 40-69 age group. Raised blood pressure is among the most important risk factors for CVDs. Moreover, it remains poorly controlled due to low awareness about hypertension, lack of appropriate care through primary care and poor follow-ups. Considering the need to spread awareness around World Heart Day falling on September 29, we have initiated the ‘Heart2Heart Challenge India’ campaign – yet another gentle reminder to the masses to pay heed to their heart health, to make India heart-healthy.”

Speaking about bringing heart health awareness, and about the alarming state of hypertension in India, Dr. Swadeep Srivastava, Founder & Chairman, HEAL Foundation said, “As per the WHO report, only about 12% of people with hypertension in India have their blood pressure under control. And uncontrolled blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as heart attacks and stroke are responsible for one-third of total deaths in India. #The Heart2HeartChallenge India campaign is a novel attempt to mitigate the deteriorating heart health conditions of Indian people, and to stride by the Government of India’s target to reduce the 25% prevalence of hypertension (raised blood pressure) by 2025. We are hopeful that people will participate in the challenge wholeheartedly and by World Heart Day we scale the height equal to 7 mountain summits of the world to create a world record.”

To spread this message across about 2,500 JB employees, including senior management from across multiple locations, will participate in the campaign, and take the challenge by inviting more and more people from their groups to take the challenge and pass on the healthy heart and timely BP monitoring message in the community to make it public.