KUCHING: Jambatan Darul Hana and Fort Margherita light up in red as Sarawak joins the rest of the world in celebration of World Heart Day 2018 today (Saturday).
The light up in red is meant to raise awareness of the world’s number one killer – cardiovascular disease, is organised by the Sarawak Heart Foundation for the first time, with the cooperation of Commission of the City of Kuching North (DBKU) and Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC).
The iconic Jambatan Darul Hana and Fort Margherita with their red lights will be featured in the website of World Heart Federation, of which the Foundation is among more than 200-member organisations worldwide. Jambatan Darul Hana has had the light up in red for a week since the launching of World Heart Day 2018 by the Foundation chairman, Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud at Saradise Kuching on 23 September, 2018.
The Kuala Lumpur Tower in the capital city also lights up red for this celebration. Others include Table Mountain in South Africa, Jet d’Eau in Geneva, Sky Tower in New Zealand and the Gate of the Orient in China.
World Heart Day is celebrated every year on 29 September and is the world’s biggest platform for raising awareness about cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke.
The theme for this year’s World Heart Day is “My Heart, Your Heart”. It is about celebrating and connecting like-minded people. Everyone is to make a promise – a promise as an individual to get more active, say no to smoking and eat more healthily.
“My Heart, Your Heart” is about saying to ourselves, the people we care about and individuals all around the world, “What can I do right now to look after my heart… and your heart?”
The Foundation was set up in 1996 as a charity to promote a heart-healthy community in Sarawak. Core activities include providing financial assistance to poor heart patients in Sarawak for heart treatment in Malaysia, public health exhibitions, health talks as well as free health screenings.
Apart from sponsoring medical treatment for the recuperation and rehabilitation of heart patients in public hospitals in Sarawak, the Foundation also provides grants and sponsorships to hospitals, institutions of higher learning and professionals in the medical field to enable them to carry out research on heart-related diseases.
