The Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said Wednesday that Barbra Streisand had donated $5 million for its women’s heart education and research program.

The same day, the hospital announced the inauguration of the new Barbra Streisand Women's Cardiovascular Research Education Program, which will help people understand more about women’s heart diseases, which kill half a million women every year.

"Women need to be educated about female cardiovascular disease, and the medical community must be propelled toward change," Streisand said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

"Just like with breast cancer, the impetus must come from women themselves striving to become empowered to reduce their risks for heart disease," she said.

Dr. Eduardo Marban, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, says female-pattern heart attack systems are different from the male-pattern ones. And research is currently directed mainly toward male physiology, even though more women than men die annually due to heart disease. Doctors say that a woman having a heart attack is 20 percent more likely to die from it than a man.

The actress and singer, who has contributed to women’s health programs through the Streisand Foundation since 1986 has so far donated around $16 million raised from her recent tours and concerts to charity, in various domains such as education or environment.

The new Streisand program is supposed to raise awareness of the heart disease within the medical community. It will develop innovative treatments and technologies and help women who are already suffering from the disease. The program will also teach women how to minimize the risk of developing a heart disease through a suitable nutrition, exercise and stress management.