Kanu foundation plans 6km walk in Abia on World Heart Day

Ahead of the 2023 World Heart Day on September 29, the Kanu Heart Foundation has unfolded its plans to celebrate the annual event.

In a statement on Monday, Onyebuchi Abia, the coordinator/trustee of the foundation, said the 2023 Heart Day would be hosted in Aba, Abia state.

The statement added that Priscilla Otti, the state governor’s wife, will lead a 6-kilometre walk of people that comprise Nollywood stars, market men and women, nurses, youths, civil servants as well as sports personalities.

“A charity game will be played on September 28 at the Enyimba Stadium, Aba and the proceeds will go to the Kanu Heart Foundation,” the statement reads.

The coordinator/trustee also said the theme for the World Heart Day ‘Use heart, know heart’, will have among its objectives to educate and create awareness on the rising trend of cardiovascular diseases, its risk factors and preventive measures that will reduce the impact of CVDs across Nigeria.

“It will also screen for high blood pressure, basal metabolic rate, body mass index, blood glucose and other CVD risk factors among civil servants,” Onyebuchi said.

On the choice of Abia for this year’s event, Onyebuchi said: “We considered the strides that the state has made in sports through the keep fit jogging exercise which we have monitored over a while.”

World Heart Day was founded in 2020 and has since been marked to inform and educate people around the world on heart illness and its associated factors while serving as an opportunity for people to take part in what is considered the biggest intervention against cardiovascular diseases.