February is American Heart Month. Heart disease remains a significant problem in the United States – it’s the leading cause of death, disproportionately affecting minorities. In particular, minorities have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, and smoking, which are risk factors that can cause heart disease. This month, we’ll be working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health to help raise awareness.

Our social media platforms will be key to engaging the multicultural population. And they have a proven reach: 65% of Hispanics and 56% of African Americans use social media. In 2014, on average 40% of all cell phone owners used a social media site, with blacks and Hispanics leading the trend at 48% and 49%, respectively.

So, how will FDA’s Office of Minority Health use social media to reach key populations? Here are just a few things we have in store for February:

Sharing culturally relevant messages for Twitter and Facebook. We want to stimulate dialogue on two key areas: (1) knowing your risk factors and (2) using our resources to help manage them. This month, our outreach will provide information and resources on the following:

• Heart Disease: Who does it affect and what are the risk factors?
• Smoking: Smoking is a risk factor for developing heart disease. FDA has resources to help you quit.
• Healthy Eating and Living: FDA has materials to help consumers make heart healthy decisions (e.g. how to read the food label), manage their risk factors through FDA-approved medications, and tips for preparing healthy meals.
• Working with stakeholders to use social media as an engagement tool. We have developed a social media toolkit to guide stakeholders in communicating with their members. The toolkit will contain drafted social media messages, infographics, and links for consumers on heart disease and risk factor management. Email omh@fda.hhs.gov to receive the toolkit.
• Hosting a bilingual Twitter chat with our partner, @SaludToday on Tuesday, Feb. 16th from 1 p.m. – 2 p.m., EST. We’ll chat about risk factors for heart disease and provide tips to lead a heart healthy lifestyle. We hope you can join us and provide your insights on this important topic.
• Spearheading an #ILoveMyHeart social media campaign with our partners @SaludToday and @ABCardio1 asking you to show us how much you love your heart! Participants will upload pictures with the #ILoveMyHeart hashtag describing their heart healthy activities. Be sure to post your picture and tag @FDAOMH!

We know that social media is becoming a valuable health education tool to reach minorities. And, we will continue to use it to engage with our audience. Please follow us and share heart-healthy messages all month.

This blog originally appeared in FDA Voice.