Rheumatic Heart Disease

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a condition affecting children and young adults. It most commonly occurs following streptococcal sore throat. Although once common in Ireland, it has now disappeared. However, in countries like Malawi it is still common, affecting 1 in 33 children. In this condition the heart valves become damaged leading to heart failure and death. The average age of death is 27 years. We have been developing and evaluating new models of care for this condition using technologies such as electronic stethoscopes and mobile phone based ultrasound. We have also begun to evaluate the optimal approaches to diagnosing this disease earlier Including the screening of primary schoolchildren.