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Go Red for Women

Also: Go Red · National Wear Red Day (AHA)

American Heart Association campaign launched in 2004 to tell women that heart disease, not only a men's disease, is their leading killer. Runs fundraising luncheons, Heart Month activity and National Wear Red Day on the first Friday of February, and funds women's heart research.

Years
2004–now
Country
United States
Topic
Cardiovascular
Asks people to
RecognizeSeek helpStart
Strategy
Brand symbolTestimonial
Channel
EventsSocial (organic)TVWebsite
Audience
Adults
Women.

Evidence

ProcessUnknown

No evaluation isolates the campaign's effect on behaviour or health. AHA national surveys show awareness that heart disease is women's leading cause of death rose from 30% (1997) to 56% (2012) (Mosca et al. 2013), then fell to 44% in 2019, with the steepest drops among Black, Hispanic and younger women (Cushman et al. 2021). Both surveys are AHA-run and began before the campaign. An independent Google Trends analysis (2004-2019) found February searches for 'heart disease women' rose on average 114%, correlating with Go Red searches (r = 0.54) (Suero-Abreu et al. 2020).

Sponsor (who paid)

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Mosca L et al. Fifteen-year trends in awareness of heart disease in women: results of a 2012 American Heart Association national survey. Circulation 2013;127:1254-63 evaluation · 2013 · DOI 10.1161/CIR.0b013e318287cf2f · PMID 23429926
  2. Cushman M et al. Ten-Year Differences in Women's Awareness Related to Coronary Heart Disease: Results of the 2019 American Heart Association National Survey. Circulation 2021;143:e239-e248 evaluation · 2021 · DOI 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000907 · PMID 32954796
  3. Suero-Abreu GA et al. Assessment of the Effect of the Go Red for Women Campaign on Search Engine Queries for Cardiovascular Disease in Women. Cardiol Res 2020;11:348-352 evaluation · 2020 · DOI 10.14740/cr1107 · PMID 32849971
  4. Go Red for Women: Nearly 20 Years of Much Progress, Some Setbacks (TCTMD) news
  5. Go Red for Women Milestones (AHA) sponsor

Research notes

2004 launch and Wear Red Day timing confirmed from TCTMD (fetched 2026-10-23); goredforwomen.org and heart.org returned 403 to automated fetches, so the AHA milestones page was not read (seen only in search results, which also said 'over 70 luncheons raising $7 million' in the first year: unverified). TCTMD reports 2022 Wear Red Day/Heart Month/maternal health activities raised more than $16 million (AHA figure). 'brand-symbol' refers to wearing red; the Red Dress itself is NHLBI's Heart Truth symbol (separate case). The AHA surveys measure awareness trends, not campaign exposure, so they are not an evaluation of Go Red as such.

Record cases/aha-go-red-for-women.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign