Heart failure in low-income and middle-income countries

Cape Heart Institute PhD student Dr Irina Mbanze led a recent review article on heart failure in low- and middle-income countries, that was just published in Heart Journal. There are stark differences in the causes, presentations and outcomes of heart failure across the world. Writing with fellow CHI member and postdoctoral fellow Dr Timothy Spracklen, this review comprehensively describes the aetiology of all major causes of heart failure in low- and middle-income countries, focussing on disorders of global relevance such as hypertension and cardiomyopathy as well as more region-specific diseases like rheumatic heart disease, Chagas disease and endomyocardial fibrosis.
 
This review emphasises critical gaps in our knowledge of heart failure in Africa and other resource-limited settings while highlighting seminal studies that have shaped our understanding of heart disease in these regions. Although there are many challenges, the authors present several strategies to overcome these difficulties and improve the prospects of the most vulnerable patients with heart failure.