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Team Heart (TH) is a non-profit based in Boston, Massachusetts whose mission is to address the growing problem of rheumatic heart disease in Rwanda. Since 2007, Team Heart has partnered with Rwanda Heart Foundation and the Rwandan Ministry of Health to combat the burden of cardiac disease. Rheumatic heart disease, a disease of poverty and childhood, is the result of group A streptococcus infections which damage the heart valves in a poorly understood auto-immune response. Over time, and after repeated bouts of inflammation, the valves become scarred and inhibit proper pumping of blood. Rheumatic heart disease is easily preventable with penicillin at the initial streptococcus infection and has been virtually eradicated in the United States and other developed countries. However, RHD still affects millions in sub-Saharan African countries such as Rwanda.
Team Heart's program is focused on three initiatives: surgical intervention, secondary prophylaxis, which halts progression and prevents further development of heart disease, and a nation-wide awareness campaign.[1] A Team Heart organized surgical team travels to King Faisal Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda annually to perform surgical procedures such as valve repair and replacements. The goal is to facilitate the establishment of an independent cardiac surgery program in Rwanda to allow patients to stay in the country for surgery. Team Heart is working to accomplish this through in-country initiatives aimed at promoting education of key individuals, creating infrastructure for continued post-operative care, and the development of a program for Awareness, Surveillance Advocacy and Prevention (ASAP) promoted in ____by PASCAR .
Team Heart is working towards identifying patients with early symptoms of heart disease in hopes of providing interventions to slow the progression of disease. Working with Partners in Health and the Rwandan Ministry of Health, Team Heart hopes to support local health centers in improving early detection of precursors such as skin infections and sore throats so that streptococcal infections can be treated in order to prevent rheumatic heart disease from occurring.
References
editExternal links
edit- Team Heart's website [1]
- "Specialists carry out 16 heart operations" The NewTimes, a Rwandan Daily Newspaper. [2]
- "Reunion in Rwanda" BWH Bulletin, December 12, 2008. [3]
- "Team Heart offers hope to patients" Profile: The Magazine of Lenoir-Rhyne University, Spring 2009, pg. 6. [4]
- "Getting Involved in Humanitarian Surgery" Thoracic Surgery News, Vol. 6, No. 10, pg. 6. [5]
- "Treating heart disease in Rwanda: Mass General team joins volunteer mission" Mass General's Heart Center News, May 14, 2009. [6]