WORLD HEART FEDERATION COUNTERS RHEUMATIC FEVER/RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE
WORLD HEART FEDERATION COUNTERS RHEUMATIC FEVER/RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE
2-6 September 2006, World Congress of Cardiology, Barcelona - The World Heart Federation is preparing to launch a global centre of excellence for the control of rheumatic heart disease (RHD).
“The Global Centre of Excellence in RHD Control will be a web-based resource primarily for clinicians, health practitioners and policy-makers in developing countries where the disease is still common,” said Professor Sidney Smith, chairman of the World Heart Federation’s Scientific Advisory Board.
“Anyone with access to the Internet will be able to download the latest guidelines, educational and training materials, to ask questions and to submit their own materials. It will be an invaluable resource for developing countries and will be a model for how health information should be presented for any disease.”
Starting with its ongoing rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease control project in the South Pacific under the direction of Jonathan Carapetis, chairman of the World Heart Federation’s Scientific Council on Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease and director of the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin, Australia, the World Heart Federation has dedicated itself to the global control of RHD. The expectation is that the lessons learned from controlling RHD in Fiji, Samoa and other islands could be applied in Africa and other hotspots. Most people do not think of heart disease as something that could be “caught” as one catches a cold or influenza. They usually assume that it is developed either through such behaviors as physical inactivity, unhealthy eating and tobacco smoking, or through some congenital defect. However, rheumatic fever can develop after an infection by the group A streptococcus bacterium. The resulting inflammatory illness, called rheumatic heart disease, can damage heart valves, leading to disability or death.
Rheumatic fever (RF) strikes an estimated 500,000 people per year. The number of people living with rheumatic heart disease is estimated at 15.5 million to 19.6 million, of whom more than 3 million are estimated to be children. Rheumatic heart disease kills up to 300,000 people per year.1
Over the last 150 years, the developed world has experienced a steady decline in the incidence and prevalence of RF and RHD through improved living conditions and the widespread use of penicillin for the treatment of streptococcal pharyngitis. Despite the wide availability and the proven effectiveness of penicillin for the prevention of RF and RHD, developing countries continue to face unacceptably high rates of RF and RHD, making RHD the most common cardiovascular disease affecting children and young adults in the world2. In its effort to rid the world of RF and RHD, the World Heart Federation is first concentrating its efforts in the corner of the world where they are the most prevalent: the South Pacific Island region. The three-year programme, which began last year, has several major components:
- To develop standardized resources and training materials to assist in the diagnosis and management
of RF and RHD. - To provide programme support and technical assistance to local governments to establish
comprehensive and sustainable RHD control programmes. - To establish the centre of global excellence in RHD.
Progress has been rapid. In Fiji, school screening began earlier this year and all known cases of rheumatic heart disease in the country have been registered. Local training workshops were held earlier this year in Fiji with the cooperation of the national health ministry. A South Pacific Island regional workshop is scheduled for Fiji in mid October. In Samoa, the active program has just commenced. Plans are underfoot to create the centre of global excellence in RHD and to extend the programme to Africa, where prevalence of RF and RHD also is high.
“The World Heart Federation programme is saving lives and significantly improving the health of many people in the South Pacific Island region,” said Dr Carapetis. “We’re pleased with the impact we’re having, However, we’re not content to stop there. We want to spread the programme’s benefits to wherever rheumatic heart disease shortens people’s lives or aggravates human misery.”
Said Professor Smith, “It’s not enough to train health workers and to identify and treat patients. We will also advocate for guaranteed supplies of high-quality antibiotics and for rheumatic heart disease to be recognized as an international clinical, public health and political priority.”
The programme is made possible through the generosity of the Vodafone Group Foundation and the State of Geneva Solidarity Fund.
1 Heartbeat, September 2004, Carapetis J, chairman, World Heart Federation Council on Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease.
2 Carapetis JR, McDonald M, Wilson NJ. Acute rheumatic fever. Lancet. 2005a;366:155-168.
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About the World Heart Federation
The World Heart Federation, a nongovernmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, is committed tohelping the global population achieve a longer and better life through prevention and control of heart disease and stroke, with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries. It is comprised of 189 member societies of cardiology and heart foundations from over 100 countries covering the regions of Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Americas and Africa.
For further information visit: www.worldheart.org
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