WiRED International Remains Vigilant on Rheumatic Heart Disease

BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW AND BERNICE BORN

 

 

One of the preventable illnesses that WiRED has focused on during the past few years is rheumatic heart disease (RHD), a chronic heart condition that starts with strep throat. According to the World Heart Federation, RHD kills more than 250,000 people every year and affects at least 15.6 million.

 

But, what is RHD and how does it begin with strep throat? WiRED has created an animation that explains the process in basic terms. Thousands of teachers, students and others have watched the video to understand what can happen if people ignore strep throat.

 

WiRED also offers an RHD training series for grassroots audiences and health professionals and provides a training course in echocardiographic diagnosis of RHD for doctors and nurses. This course helps medical professionals know how to obtain and interpret ultrasounds of the heart in determining a patient’s RHD status.

 

While the world appropriately deals with the global threat of the Zika virus and its health implications, people in low-resource regions continue to face many other health challenges. WiRED International is especially concerned about preventable illnesses, so that, with education and training, we can head off the ravages of infection and autoimmune diseases.

 

RHD disproportionately affects children and young adults, especially in underserved countries of the world. WiRED urges people to keep RHD on their minds by sharing links to its RHD modules and animation with family and friends.