BHF’s giant timer brings heart disease urgency to life

On London’s Southbank, a striking 3D timer installation now counts down in real time — a deliberate reminder that in the UK, someone dies from cardiovascular disease every three minutes.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is deploying the installation ahead of World Heart Day (29 September) to push past apathy and confront the gap between perception and reality.

The campaign draws on a new survey exposing how deeply heart health myths persist. For example, 42 percent of Brits believe heart disease symptoms emerge suddenly (à la TV or film dramatics), rather than over time.

And 21 percent wrongly think cardiovascular risk only begins after age 60. Yet recent figures show cardiovascular deaths among working-age adults have spiked by nearly 20 percent over the past few years.

For BHF’s CEO Dr Charmaine Griffiths, the timer is part symbol, part provocation.

She emphasises that the charity’s refreshed strategy will lean hard on prevention (including AI and data science), research acceleration, and systemic improvements in cardiovascular care.

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