It's National Wear Red Day

Hearts. Passion. Love.

Those are some common things that the color red often conjures up, particularly around Valentine’s Day. 

The American Heart Association would like to add another symbol to the list of commonly red items: Women.

Friday is the American Heart Association’s National Wear Red Day, an annual event aimed at bringing greater awareness to the No. 1 lady killer – heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, heart disease, which includes heart attack and stroke, claims the lives of 1 in 3 women. By comparison, 1 in 30 women die from breast cancer.

Since launching the Go Red for Women campaign in 2004, the American Heart Association has used proceeds from corporate sponsorships and fundraising initiatives to cover the cost of 2 million heart checkups and heart disease risk assessments for women.

Last year, the American Heart Association set a goal of reducing death and disability from cardiovascular disease and strokes by 20 percent in the year 2020.

Doing your part is simple: Wear red today and help make women and heart health synonymous with other red symbols.