For over a year now, we have been following children and adolescents living with rheumatic heart disease (RHD).
RHD is an illness which goes through several steps before reaching the final stage of cardiac valve damage. It always starts by a sore throat, which if poorly treated or neglected will lead in some susceptible individuals to what’s called acute rheumatic fever. This is usually self-limiting. After several episodes of untreated or neglected sore throat, immune response of the body will later on attack heart valves.
To fight against RHD, there are several options, starting from primordial to tertiary prevention. In between them, there is primary prevention for which community awareness on the risks of neglected or untreated sore throat is a key step.
The Cameroon Rheumatic heart disease Initiative is working with children and adolescents living with rheumatic heart disease to empower them so as to build their skills to become leaders in the sensitization against RHD in their communities and schools.
During some of our monthly clinics, we discussed with the kids the relationship between sore throat and heart disease. These were great moments of exchange, where the children as well as the parents and other carers were amazed to finally understand their illness.
This was the first step of our Project titled: “Patient empowerment for community awareness”
Keep tuned to find out what impact this training will have as the project unfolds.