Take Action

Where to start?

10 key action from the Heart Foundation that you can talk to your local MP about:

1. Get Rid of Tobacco

• Commit to implementation of Tupeka Kore, tobacco free New Zealand by 2025 (or earlier)
• Introduce plain packaging
• Help smokers to quit. Get serious about providing smoking cessation courses and nicotine replacement therapies.
• Get more info

2. Protect our children - Eradicate Rheumatic fever

• Make rheumatic fever a child health indicator
• Mandate DHB responsibility for rheumatic fever control through specific accountability in funding agreements
• Fund campaigns in high risk areas to raise awareness of sore throats and rheumatic fever
• Support programmes in high risk areas to ensure open access in primary care for effective sore throat management
• Commit to a continued cross-sectoral programme which addresses substandard housing and overcrowding.
• Get more info

3. Protect our children – Stop the promotion of unhealthy food to children

• Ensure schools provide healthy food for children
• Legislate to prevent the advertising of unhealthy food to children
• Get more info

4. Make healthy eating the easier choice

• Ensure healthy, basic foods are accessible and affordable for all
• Investigate a targeted smart card to improve affordability of healthy food for lower-income households
• Incentivise the food industry to reduce salt in the food supply.
• Get more info

5. Encourage lifelong physical activity

• Make sure local authorities increase opportunities for walking, cycling and physically active lifestyles.

6. Ensure systematic assessment and effective management of cardiovascular risk in Primary Care

• Establish cardiovascular risk assessment in primary care as a national health target
• Support effective CV risk management in Primary Care.
• Get more info

7. Ensure the public is aware of heart attack signs and symptoms

• Support a national campaign to reduce heart attack deaths through recognition of heart attack symptoms and prevention of delays to treatment.

8. Improve quality and equity of access to heart treatment services

• Mandate a regional process of continuous quality improvement for secondary and tertiary level heart care through the newly established National Cardiac Network. This should be based on selected KPIs for the management of patients with acute coronary syndromes
• Focus on reduction of the inequities in risk outcomes and access experienced by Māori and Pacific peoples

9. Improve access to rehabilitation services to prevent repeat heart attacks

• Establish and monitor DHB targets for referral to and completion of cardiac rehabilitation after a heart attack. 

10. Develop a national strategy for the prevention of the diseases killing most NZers

• Develop a National strategy for the prevention of non–communicable diseases (NCDs) consistent with the outcomes from the UN Summit on NCDs this year
• Support a global commitment to the prevention of NCDs.