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United to End Rheumatic Heart Disease – Release of RHD Action Prospectus

18 July 2017

This week, RHD Action is delighted to launch its latest publication, “United to End Rheumatic Heart Disease: RHD Action Prospectus 2017”, coinciding with the 7th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery in Barcelona, Spain. 

Outlining the action areas that drive our work, the Prospectus sets out ten priorities that form the core of RHD Action’s future plans. These priorities are organized into a ‘pyramid’ structure, and are divided into three main categories:

  • People and communities
  • Medicines and technologies
  • Systems and services

Our 2017 Prospectus details some of RHD Action’s key achievements to date in each of these areas, including:

  • Amplifying the voice of people living with RHD in national and global meetings and priority-setting and governance for RHD control.
  • Training healthcare workers in diagnosis and basic care of RHD, including how to safely give an injection of Benzathine Penicillin G (BPG), the mainstay of rheumatic fever and RHD prevention and control. 
  • Providing technical support to country RHD activities, including developing resources such as the National Assessment Tool and TIPs, and the launch of the Small Grants Programme.
  • Supporting progress towards a World Health Assembly Resolution on ‘Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease’ in 2018, a piece of high-level global policy co-sponsored by 20 governments.

To build on this work, we have identified the next steps necessary to meet our target of reducing deaths from RHD by 25% in under-25-year-olds by the year 2025. 

Our goals are ambitious, yet realistic. Achieving them will require the support from a wide variety of stakeholders within the RHD community and beyond. Our 2017 Prospectus outlines these key next steps as we work towards putting this preventable disease in the history books.

Get involved

Download “United to End Rheumatic Heart Disease: RHD Action Prospectus 2017” now to learn more, and join our efforts to eliminate this preventable disease. 

For more information on the Prospectus and how you can contribute, please get in touch via info@rhdaction.org

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RHD Action Priorities Pyramid
RHD Action Priorities Pyramid