RHD Action

• International
• English

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) – a disease of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities – has long been neglected by global and national health efforts. Now, at the dawn of the new sustainable development agenda, an opportunity has arisen to help the international community eliminate this preventable disease: all countries in the world have renewed their commitments to achieve universal health coverage (UHC).

The year 2015 marked a decade since the World Health Organization first passed a Resolution on UHC, and also marked the inclusion of UHC into the 2030 Agenda for sustainable global development. It is therefore urgent that countries take decisive steps to integrate RHD services into national UHC packages.

This paper sets out the compelling rationale for integration of RHD into UHC, and offers concrete actions to make this humanitarian vision a reality. Together, through our global quest towards UHC, let’s consign this preventable disease to the history books.

• International
• English
• Media

Benzathine penicillin G (BPG) is an antibiotic administered by injection into muscle. BPG mixes only very slowly with water, ensuring that low levels of the penicillin stay in the blood for weeks. This makes BPG suitable for treating and preventing specific bacterial infections sensitive to penicillin.

This briefing note outlines the existing formulations for BPG, complexities of administration of BPG and addresses the limited supply of BPG worldwide. There are no comparably effective drugs for treatment of congenital syphilis or prevention of ARF. BPG is the mainstay of treatment for these conditions. Alternative antibiotics do exist for other indications but may be more expensive, difficult to access, or contributors to antibiotic resistance. Focusing primarily on congenital syphilis and ARF indications alone illustrates the scale of global need for BPG.

• Australia
• English
• Allied health - dental

The Clearinghouse builds oral health promotion capacity and fosters the development and implementation of effective prevention and oral health promotion strategies to improve the health of Australians

• Australia
• English
• Allied health - dental

Information and resources from the Department of Health, Northern Territory about oral health.

• Australia
• English
• Communities

Strong Heart Strong Body: Information about rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease

Illustrated booklet with information about rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. developed by Qld Rheumatic Heart Disease Register & Control Program.

• Australia
• Communities

Comic developed by the RHD Control Programme in Queensland Australia.

• Australia
• Barratha
• Communities

This short film was produced in response to a health emergency (an outbreak of acute rheumatic fever) in the Indigenous community of Maningrida in the Northern Territory. The film carries important preventative health warnings, and includes original footage and animations created by Moonshine Movies for the impact documentary project: Take Heart.

Core messages: This sickness is serious - it can damage your heart. People with rheumatic fever need Penicillin in their body all the time to kill any strep germs and prevent heart damage. To prevent rheumatic fever: Wash your hands; keep a clean house to keep the Strep germ away; and treat skin sores and sore throats. Original video in Barratha language (Top End, Northern Territory)

• International
• English
• Communities

Anatomy 4D puts every detail of the most complex human bodily systems into a free app that is easy to use, accessible, and truly engaging. Learners explore bodily systems in depth through DAQRI’s 4D experience, which provides the opportunity to understand their interrelationships spatially – a learning experience previously only accessible in a an anatomy lab.

Available for Android and for Apple.

• International
• English
• Communities

Rheumatic Heart Disease Action Alliance Launch - Keynote Speech, New York, United States, 29th September 2015.

• Australia
• Specialist clinician - cardiology

Standard echocardiography is the most cost-effective and least invasive method available for screening and assessing cardiac anatomy and function. Its fundamental purpose - to create a picture through the detection of ultrasound waves reflected from an object - is the same as a pregnancy ultrasound, except it's performed at a different frequency, with a different type of transducer.

The AMOSS RHD in pregnancy study includes an echocardiogram survey, with up to four echo reports (the most recent prior to pregnancy, and up to three during pregnancy)

Further details on AMOSS can be found here

• International
• English
• Specialist clinician - cardiology

Echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease

Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Volume 86, Number 2, February 2008, 81-160

• International
• English

Second Meeting of the Subcommittee of the Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines
Geneva, 29 September to 3 October 2008

Report for the 2nd Meeting of World Health Organization’s subcommittee of the Expert Committee of the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines

• International
• English
• Specialist clinician - cardiology

This is one of a series of papers that review the clinical importance of group A streptococcal diseases, possible control strategies, prevention by vaccination and a possible role of WHO. This review looks into the entire range of potential strategies for controlling GAS diseases, and discusses the evidence supporting them and the associated cost.

• International
• English
• Specialist clinician - cardiology

Over the past 5 years, the advent of echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) has revealed a higher RHD burden than previously thought. In light of this global experience, the development of new international echocardiographic guidelines that address the full spectrum of the rheumatic disease process is opportune. Systematic differences in the reporting of and diagnostic approach to RHD exist, reflecting differences in local experience and disease patterns. The World Heart Federation echocardiographic criteria for RHD have, therefore, been developed and are formulated on the basis of the best available evidence. Three categories are defined on the basis of assessment by 2D, continuous-wave, and color-Doppler echocardiography: 'definite RHD', 'borderline RHD', and 'normal'. Four subcategories of 'definite RHD' and three subcategories of 'borderline RHD' exist, to reflect the various disease patterns. The morphological features of RHD and the criteria for pathological mitral and aortic regurgitation are also defined. The criteria are modified for those aged over 20 years on the basis of the available evidence. The standardized criteria aim to permit rapid and consistent identification of individuals with RHD without a clear history of acute rheumatic fever and hence allow enrollment into secondary prophylaxis programs. However, important unanswered questions remain about the importance of subclinical disease (borderline or definite RHD on echocardiography without a clinical pathological murmur), and about the practicalities of implementing screening programs. These standardized criteria will help enable new studies to be designed to evaluate the role of echocardiographic screening in RHD control.

Nature Reviews Cardiology 9, 297-309 (May 2012) | doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2012.7

• International
• English
• Communities

Rheumatic Heart Disease in low income countries.

Professor Bongani Mayosi and Dr Ana Olga Mocumbi on why rheumatic heart disease is still common in Africa and low income areas.