Nearly 5,000 Fijians are living with rheumatic heart disease

Nearly 5,000 people in Fiji are living with rheumatic heart disease, and school-aged children are among those most affected. The Fiji Rheumatic Heart Disease Support Programme 2020-2025 report recorded 4,984 patients as of July last year.

Children between five and 15 made up the group most affected by the disease. The report recorded an average of 71 rheumatic-heart-disease deaths each year, up from about 60 previously. Deaths have risen since 2015 and reached a peak of 128 in 2021.

The illness also carried an estimated economic cost of $18.3 million a year between 2008 and 2012. Health Minister Dr Atonio Lalabalavu said early detection and treatment could prevent severe, lifelong heart damage.

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What may begin with an ordinary throat infection can, if not recognised and treated early, lead to lifelong damage to the heart.

“What may begin with an ordinary throat infection can, if not recognised and treated early, lead to lifelong damage to the heart,” Lalabalavu said. Over five years, the programme screened about 10,000 schoolchildren and more than 2,600 pregnant women. It also trained health workers and increased awareness in communities.

Lalabalavu said Fiji needed better early diagnosis and stronger efforts to keep patients on treatment. He called for a stronger workforce trained in echocardiography, improved adherence to secondary prophylaxis and better surveillance of Strep A and acute rheumatic fever. He said patients and their families should remain central to future work.

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We must continue to strengthen our workforce, carrying out echocardiography, improve adherence to secondary prophylaxis for those living with RHD, and strengthen surveillance in the diagnosis of Strep A and acute rheumatic fever within our communities.