Media Releases

The Heart Foundation is celebrating the success of their Tohu Manawa Ora | Healthy Heart Award programme, which has been shown to significantly impact the health and wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of pre-schoolers across New Zealand.

The Heart Foundation, Coastguard and Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust welcome the Government’s announcement today that temporary legislation allowing charities to operate fundraising lotteries online will be made permanent.

The Heart Foundation will strengthen ties with New Zealand’s largest Primary Health Organisation, ProCare, to help stop New Zealanders dying prematurely from heart disease and to help those with heart disease live longer, healthier lives.

The Heart Foundation Board is seeking expressions of interest for Non-Executive Directors.

Would you like to challenge yourself to stay active this autumn? Registration is free and now open for MyMarathon.

The Heart Foundation’s Food Reformulation programme has had a significant impact on supporting lower sugar levels in a number of everyday, low-cost food items on supermarket shelves. It is estimated that 760 tonnes of sugar per annum have been removed from targeted food categories.

Leading cardiologists and the Heart Foundation are calling for all New Zealanders with heart failure to have access to the latest healthcare and medications for optimal management of heart failure. This would bring New Zealand into line with international best practice.

One in five New Zealanders have high blood pressure (hypertension) with many of these people unaware they have it. One reason being that hypertension invariably has no symptoms. This is significant as almost one in three deaths in New Zealand are caused by cardiovascular disease — hypertension being a major risk factor.  

The Heart Foundation’s single biggest annual fundraiser of the year, the Big Heart Appeal, is back this month with a strong message – help us to save lives through life-saving heart research.

The Heart Foundation is very disappointed the new government is planning to repeal New Zealand’s world-leading policies to end smoked tobacco in New Zealand. This will likely prolong the impact smoked tobacco is having on premature illness and deaths in New Zealand. 

Big-hearted volunteers will be out in full force in February 2024 as part of the Heart Foundation’s biggest fundraiser of the year, the Big Heart Appeal, which kicks off once again on streets across New Zealand.

A phone-sized defibrillator for community first responders, investigating whether AI can prevent a catastrophic heart event, and understanding the impact of ultra-processed food on heart health are just three of the many research projects awarded funding by the Heart Foundation today.