Reaching Women of Color with Heartfelt Alliances

The Heart Truth has formed partnerships with leading national organizations representing women of color to sound a red alert about the nation's #1 killer of women.  Together with its partners, the NHLBI has engaged in national and local activities to help more women of color understand The Heart Truth—and inspire them to take action to reduce their risk for heart disease.

Since the launch of The Heart Truth's Women of Color initiative on February 4, 2005, the campaign and its messages have reached thousands of African American and Hispanic women throughout the United States.  The campaign continues to expand outreach efforts in partnership with three longtime Heart Truth community partners:  The Links, Inc.; National Latina Health Network; and National Coalition of Pastors’ Spouses.  These partners have committed to implementing a series of community events—Heart Truth workshops and risk factor screenings—designed to increase awareness of heart disease among African American women and Latinas.

Women of Color Partner Organizations

• Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc.—www.abcardio.org
• Black Women's Health Imperative—www.blackwomenshealth.org
• Catalina magazine—www.catalinamagazine.com
• Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Inc.—www.chietaphi.com
• ESSENCE magazine—www.essence.com
• The League of United Latin American Citizens, Women—www.lulac.org/women.html
• The Links, Inc.—www.linksinc.org
• MANA, A National Latina Organization—www.hermana.org
• National Association of Latina Leaders—www.latinaleaders.org
• National Black Nurses Association—www.nbna.org
• National Coalition of Pastors’ Spouses—www.pastorspouses.com
• National Latina Health Network—www.nlhn.net
• St. Agnes Hospital, A Sister's Heart, Baltimore, MD—www.sistersheart.org

Quick Facts Women of Color should know:

• For African American women, the risk of heart disease is especially great.  Heart disease is more prevalent among black women than white women, as are some of the factors that increase the risk of developing it—high blood pressure, overweight, and diabetes.  
  
  
• Latinas also have high rates of some factors that increase the risk of developing heart disease, such as diabetes, overweight and obesity, and physical inactivity. 
  
  
• More than 80 percent of midlife African American women are overweight or obese, 52 percent have high blood pressure, and 14 percent have been diagnosed with diabetes.  
  
  

Learn more about how your organization or association can help spread The Heart Truth, visit the Activity Ideas Web page.

To include activities to raise awareness about women and heart disease in your faith-based community, visit The Heart Truth's Faith-Based Online Toolkit.