Sep 25, 2018

Make your promise, keep your promise with Philips this World Heart Day

Philips and the World Heart Federation call on Malaysians to make a heart promise to keep your heart and all hearts healthy to help prevent heart disease

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) a global leader in health technology and proud partner of the World Heart Federation (WHF), is calling all Malaysians to make a heart promise to keep your heart and all hearts healthy this World Heart Day, 29 September 2018 – an annual initiative that raises awareness on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its associated risks. The theme for this year is Make your promise: Keep your promise, where any Malaysian can make and stick to a promise to help achieve our over-arching goal: heart health for everyone. A heart promise is a small lifestyle change that can add up to a powerful difference for our heart health, such as eating a healthy, balanced diet, doing 30 minutes of activity a day or giving up smoking, and can help to reduce the risk of developing CVD. The WHF’s ambition is to urge everyone to improve their own cardiovascular health, and to help to improve the cardiovascular health of others.

For many people, busy lifestyles can mean we consume food on the go. Quick mass-produced meals can be high in calories, fats, sugar and salt. Internationally, this has resulted in 39% of adults being categorised as overweight and 13% as obese¹. This can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the world’s number one killer that claims over 17.7 million lives each year². Poor air quality (outdoor and household air pollution) is another contributory factor for CVD that is making headlines around the world. In fact, one in five premature deaths from CVD is attributable to air pollution, a total of 3 million deaths globally every year³. Air pollution is now ranked above tobacco as the fourth cause of DALY (disability-adjusted life year) according to the Global Burden of Disease study⁴. In places with serious air pollution, the exposure to pollutants is comparable to being a multi-pack smoker⁵.

With obesity rates rising sharply in Malaysia, there is a pressing need to help Malaysians prepare healthier meals. Research has found that almost half of all Malaysian adults (47.7%) are overweight or obese, compared to only a fifth (21.1%) two decades before that6. This is the reason why Philips and the World Heart Federation have embarked on the campaign theme for this year’s World Heart Day - make your promise: keep your promise. It is extremely important for Malaysians to prevent serious conditions like cardiovascular disease

Muhammad Ali Jaleel

Country Manager for Philips Malaysia

One of the keys to a healthy heart is a healthy and nutritious diet. When we make homemade meals, we have control over the ingredients we use and the quality of the meal. We can even enjoy healthier versions of the foods that we love. Cooking and eating meals at home also brings families together, enhancing relationships and building healthy routines for life.

Philips’ Kitchen Appliances are designed to make preparing nourishing and tasty meals at home easier, helping everyone benefit from a balanced and nutritious diet. Research shows that 82% of people are looking to purchase an appliance that helps them prepare healthy meals⁷. Two in three adults struggle to manage three or four portions of fruit and vegetables per day⁸. Philips recognises that fruits and vegetables are an integral part of a balanced diet, and has a wide range of slow juicers, blenders and centrifugal juicers to kick-start your morning.

Philips also has an extensive Air portfolio which includes a range of solutions to ensure you can breathe clean air. Philips Air Purifier solutions paired with the Air Matters app ensures you’re always in the know about indoor and outdoor air quality, and gives you peace of mind that the air you and your family are breathing is of good quality.

To make your promise to support heart health this World Heart Day, visit http://www.worldheart.org and share your promise on social media with the hashtag #WorldHeartDay.

Don’t forget to tag the World Heart Federation and Philips Malaysia on social media as follows:

World Heart Federation on Facebook (www.facebook.com/worldheartfederation)

Philips Malaysia on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PhilipsHomeLiving.my/

Philips Malaysia on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/philips_my/)

¹World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

²World Health Organization Factsheet, July 2017 http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds)

³GBD 2016 Risk Factors Collaborators. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet 390, 1345–1422 (2017). http://www.healthdata.org/results/data-visualizations

⁴GBD 2016 Risk Factors Collaborators. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet 390, 1345–1422 (2017). http://www.healthdata.org/results/data-visualizations

⁵World Economic Forum, 1 May 2018, If you live in a big city you already smoke every day, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/05/if-you-live-in-a-big-city-you-already-smoke-every-day/

⁶Ministry of Health Malaysia, National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015 http://iku.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/2015/NHMS2015CompiledPoster.pdf

⁷Early Buyer Study Airfryer, Philips USA, February 2016

⁸World Health Organization, 2015. Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases: http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/trs916/en/

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2018 sales of EUR 18.1 billion and employs approximately 78,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.