Drugs agency urging men to take care of their hearts

1.00pm - By RENEE KIRIONA

John Merito does not want to become another statistic and die from a heart attack.

So while the 47-year-old has the chance he is trying to avoid everything that could land him in the same situation as the 10,500 people in New Zealand who die from cardiovascular disease (heart attacks and strokes) each year.

Today Crown-owned pharmaceutical agency Pharmac took its One Heart Many Lives campaign to Mr Merito's hometown, Rotorua.

According to Pharmac, Mr Merito is one of a growing number of men, aged 45 plus, who are taking positive steps to lower their risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke, which cause one in four deaths every year.

The campaign aimed to raise awareness of cardiovascular disease (mainly heart attack and stroke) among men aged 45 plus and to encourage them to do something about it.

Pharmac medical director Dr Peter Moodie said innovative approaches were used in Porirua whereby Pacific Island churches were used to spread the information.

"In Porirua, some Pacific Island churches established exercise groups that have kept going even after the pilot ended," he said.

"We hope to do the same in Rotorua by visiting marae because if we don't keep this a grassroots campaign then it will never work."

While Mr Merito, who works as a Maori liaison officer at a tertiary institute and manages an iwi-owned business, began changing his habits and exercising long before the campaign started, he welcomed it.

"There's never too much that can be done," he said.

Ngaire Whata, the chief executive officer of Rotorua-based Maori health provider Korowai Aroha, said the majority of its 6000 adult clients risked getting a cardiovascular disease.

"There are a number of practical programmes running here to address the matter but a lot more awareness is needed, especially for our men aged 35 and over.

"As ridiculous as it might sound, most of them don't know that smoking, drinking and poor diet can do damage to their cardiovascular system and by the time they do its too late."

In Porirua and Gisborne, where the campaign was launched last year, there was a greater than average increase in the prescribing of statin drugs, which lower cholesterol levels - one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Within the next couple of months Pharmac would extend the campaign to Taupo, Tauranga and Auckland.