RHD Action Launched - The Global Movement to Control RHD
A global initiative to end rheumatic heart disease (RHD); RHD Action, is launched in New York on September 29th 2015, World Heart Day. This alliance between global health experts, health care providers and people living with RHD highlights the importance of a collaborative input on a global scale to tackle this entirely preventable but neglected disease.
RHD Action is led by a coalition of three organisations: Medtronic Philanthropy, the World Heart Federation and RhEACH. The launch of the movement coincided with the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, for good reason.
"Every death from RHD is a tragedy, because every one could have been prevented with penicillin, the oldest and still one of the cheapest antibiotics available," said Dr. Rosemary Wyber, Deputy Director of RhEACH. "While the human and economic toll of the disease persists, RHD has lagged far behind many other illnesses when it comes to funding and attention. We call on world leaders gathered at the UN today to commit to eliminating RHD once and for all."
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RHDAustralia since 2009
Rheumatic Heart Disease Australia is an initiative of Menzies School of Health Research and is funded by the Commonwealth Government. Since 2009, RHDAustralia has been working with health professionals and alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and other at risk populations, to reduce acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Australia.