Hand to Heart has a single mission...

...to address the ashamedly high incidence and prevalence rates of Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF) and Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) among Indigenous Australians when compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts.

 

Aboriginal people in Australia are 69 times more likely than non-Aboriginal people to develop rheumatic fever and 64 times more likely to have rheumatic heart disease [1].

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ARF and RHD are diseases reflecting social disadvantage and deprivation, particularly during childhood [2]. The alleviation of poverty, improvement in living conditions and access to penicillin-based drugs has rendered ARF and RHD relatively rare diseases in developing nations [3].

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In spite of this, the Rheumatic Heart Disease and Acute Rheumatic Fever in Australia: 1996-2012 Report found that Indigenous Australians suffer from one of the highest documented incidence rates of ARF and RHD in the world. Additionally, attempting to treat these diseases is substantially impacting the lives of individuals and their communities [1,4]. Indeed ARF and RHD are two of the many "neglected diseases" present in rural and remote Australia.

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We endeavour to:

1. Inform the developed world population about what ARF and RHD are, as well as raise awareness about the large inequality that exists between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population regarding the incidence and prevalence of each disease.

2. Highlight the factors contributing to this health problem at the individual, community and global level, with particular emphasis on the barriers unique to Indigenous Australians.

3. Describe the additional efforts required to control and prevent this health issue.

4. Outline challenges to anticipate in the future.

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The following video, courtesy of Take Heart TV, provides a further introduction to this topic [5]:

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