UnitedHealthcare has announced a three-year, $1.95 million commitment to the American Heart Association to help encourage Americans to start and maintain walking and exercise regimens.

The funding will be used to help establish walking paths around the country, with the goal of creating a hundred and fifty new paths in the first year, and to provide expanded online resources through the association's Start! Walking Web site. The resources will include information about local walking paths; three customized walking programs (beginner, intermediate, and advanced); tracking tools that document calories consumed, steps taken, and routes walked; downloadable seasonal walking guides with tips on how to maintain a routine regardless of weather; and videos, produced in collaboration with ExerciseTV, focused on at-home workouts.

AHA has identified physical activity as a key factor in its goal of improving the cardiovascular health of all Americans and reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease by 20 percent over the next decade. According to a recent AHA study, only 15 percent of American adults achieve the association's recommended level of moderate aerobic exercise — thirty minutes a day, five days a week.

"The walking paths program will make a positive impact on the health of individuals and communities across the country by getting people walking, an activity that is easy, inexpensive, and can be done almost anywhere," said Kate Rubin, vice president of social responsibility for UnitedHealth Group. "This new partnership will help create physical and virtual resources for walking and give our employees new opportunities to volunteer with the American Heart Association around the country, helping to make their own communities healthier."