A ban on the ‘targeted marketing’ of unhealthy food and drinks, particularly the targeting of children and young people, is among the key priorities outlined in a new Irish Heart Foundation Strategy
The strategy also prioritises more research and cardiac services for women’s heart health, legislation to protect young people from nicotine addiction caused by e-cigarettes and tackling health inequality.
The Foundation’s new ‘Defending, Empowering and Caring’ Strategic Plan 2025-2028, recently unveiled sets out an ambitious roadmap that will help improve cardiovascular health across Ireland.
A total of 600,000 people in Ireland live with a cardiovascular condition and 9,500 die from cardiovascular disease each year.
Data shows that an estimated 137,000 people in Ireland are living with heart failure and approximately 7,500 people have a stroke each year.
It is estimated that over 30,000 people are living with some form of disability following a stroke.
Priorities for the four years of the new strategy are advocacy, prevention, care and support, health equity and research.
The charity is committed to tackling health inequality, challenging unfair gaps that exist and ensuring that there is equity of access to good heart health for all.
Free health checks to underserved communities and those at greatest risk of cardiovascular disease, including the farming community, will continue to be delivered as part of this new strategy.
The provision of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training across the country continues to be a core focus and there are plans to expand the free CPR 4 Schools post-primary programme so that more young people and adults can learn this lifesaving skill.
Empowering all age groups to better understand health information and to make informed decisions about their own heart health, as well as increasing the public’s understanding of cardiovascular health risks through awareness campaigns, will enable the public to make healthier choices for their hearts.
“As we approach the 60th anniversary of the Irish Heart Foundation in 2026, this strategy ensures that we will stay true to the ambitions and purpose set out by our founders,” said the Irish Heart Foundation’s CEO, Emma Balmaine.
“The strategic priorities and objectives set out in this strategy will see us concentrate our resources, expertise and energy in ways that will improve cardiovascular health across Ireland, and we will continue the fight to protect the cardiovascular health of everyone in this country.
“That is why we undertake lifesaving and life-changing work by innovating and leading in health promotion and heart disease, stroke and thrombosis prevention, building a nation of lifesavers through CPR training, campaigning and advocating for patients, and speaking out and caring for people living with heart disease, stroke and thrombosis.”
The charity will also continue to use its Nurse Support Line to support and care for those affected by heart disease, stroke and thrombosis, as well as their families, and plans to maximise its collaboration with the HSE to deliver life-changing support to those patients.
Additionally, the plan focuses on in increasing the Irish Heart Foundation’s impact by developing services in critical areas such as psychological and mental health support for those affected by heart disease, stroke and thrombosis.
It also vowed to partner with other organisations to produce high-quality research on CVD prevention and continue to provide essential data on heart-harming issues such as vaping and e-cigarettes.
The Foundation also intends to produce, in collaboration with a suitable university, at least one scientific publication adding to the evidence base around prevention and management of cardiovascular disease in an Irish context.
