04 Apr Healthy Stadia Annual Steering Group Meeting and Theme for World Heart Day 2011
On 29th March the Network held its second annual steering group meeting at FC Utrecht’s ‘Stadium Galgenwaard’ in The Netherlands. In addition to hearing updates from the Network’s 13 country partner organisations, including new organisations from France, Belgium and Georgia, steering group members were introduced to the highly successful ‘Scoring for Health’ programme currently running at all of the 18 Eredivisie clubs within The Netherlands.
The group also received a presentation concerning this year’s World Heart Day (29th September) from the World Heart Federation. The Network will be liaising with its member clubs to support World Heart Day once again in 2011, the theme of which will be ‘One World, One Home, One Heart’. With the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) taking place in September, World Heart Day presents a great opportunity to communicate messages about the meeting outcomes, and the importance of elevating NCDs up the global health agenda.
After two years of focusing on heart health in the workplace, this year the World Heart Federation has called on individuals to reduce their own and their family’s risk of heart disease and stroke, asking people to take charge of their home’s heart health by taking steps such as choosing healthy food options, increasing physical activity, and saying no to tobacco.
The World Heart Federation will be part-funding the European Healthy Stadia Network activities in 2011 – for the second successive year – through its partnership with UEFA’s Football and Social Responsibility Portfolio. For more information on World Heart Day, please link to: www.worldheartday.org
