The Lancet publishes CHI's rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Africa study

In May, The Lancet published the CHI study, An investment case for the prevention and management of rheumatic heart disease in the African Union 2021–30: a modelling study.

This study presents an investment case for interventions to prevent and manage rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in the African Union (AU) spanning the period 2021-2030. The study considers operationally plausible opportunities for investments in scaling up prevention, management, and surgical interventions and estimates the health impacts, cost, and returns on investment. Its key findings suggest that this model could prevent some 74 000 deaths in the AU, the region with the highest RHD prevalence in the world.

Rates of acute rheumatic fever ARF and RHD remain high in Africa in part because of living conditions associated with poverty, including household overcrowding, and inadequate levels of coverage of high-quality health care. Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is caused by an inflammatory process in some individuals after infection with group A streptococcus. Some people with ARF go on to develop RHD. This study was funded by the World Heart Federation, the Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust, and the American Heart Association.

See study: An investment case for the prevention and management of rheumatic heart disease in the African Union 2021–30: a modelling study (The Lancet, 2021)