The Mujeres por el Corazón campaign bus tours Madrid

The Fundación Mapfre, The Fundación Pro CNIC and the Madrid regional government joined together to launch the Mujeres por el corazón campaign last October. The purpose of the campaign is to inform women about the importance of recognizing the early signs of cardiovascular disease and the need to maintain a healthy lifestyle to reduce the impact of this disease, the main cause of death in women as well as in men.

Several months in, the campaign is as active as ever, and the campaign bus has now visited 11 boroughs in the Madrid region. At each stop, the team provides rapid and free medical tests and also gives information to women about the risks associated with a heart attack.

The tests offered include measurement of the waist circumference, a more reliable indicator of risk than body- mass index, and that shouldn’t be more than 82 cm. Other tests include blood pressure and cholesterol, which need to be kept under control to avoid cardiovascular risk, and measures of height and weight. Excess body fat, another important risk factor for heart disease, is closely related to overeating and lack of physical exercise.

At each stop, the team provides rapid and free medical tests and also gives information to women about the risks associated with a heart attack.

Visitors to the campaign bus also receive a leaflet explaining that although chest pain and discomfort are the main symptoms of a heart attack in women and men, women generally also experience other symptoms, such as shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and pain in the back and jaw. The leaflet provides guidance on learning to control stress, as this will help to protect the cardiovascular system, and also emphasizes the importance of taking regular exercise and avoiding tobacco, since smoking can cause blood clots, thrombosis, stroke and heart attack.

To coincide with the campaign bus visits, each borough council holds public events featuring contributions from the sponsoring organizations and the Spanish Heart Foundation.

The Mujeres por el corazón campaign includes a practical guide to cardiovascular health for women, called Cuídate, Corazón (Looking after your heart). This guide was developed in partnership with the magazine Women’s Health and can be downloaded from the campaign website: www. mujeresporelcorazon.org. This site also includes a promotional advertisement under the slogan “Make no mistake, recognizing the symptoms could save your life.” In the advert the actress Elena Martín attributes her symptoms to other causes until finally deciding to call the emergency services.