Rheumatic heart disease in Africa: the Mosi-o-Tunya call to action
Authors: Bongani M Mayosi, Habib Gamra, Jean-Marie Dangou, Joseph Kasonde
Journal: The Lancet Global Health (2014)

Rheumatic heart disease is a neglected post-infectious chronic disease of children and young adults that continues to maim and kill millions of people needlessly. Sub-Saharan Africa is the hotspot of the world, with a prevalence of 5·7 per 1000 in children aged 5–14 years in 2005.1Carapetis JR Steer AC Mulholland EK Weber M The global burden of group A streptococcal diseases.Lancet Infect Dis. 2005; 5: 685-694Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2012) Google Scholar This information galvanised the Pan African Society of Cardiology (PASCAR), together with the WHO Regional Office for Africa (WHO-AFRO), the World Heart Federation, and the South African National Department of Health to convene the first All-Africa Workshop on rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease on Oct 15–16, 2005, near Drakensberg in South Africa.2Mayosi BM A proposal for the eradication of rheumatic fever in our lifetime.S Afr Med J. 2006; 96: 229-230Google Scholar The intensive deliberations that ensued resulted in the adoption of the Drakensberg Declaration on the control of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Africa, a clarion call for the establishment of national programmes to prevent rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in all African countries.3Mayosi B Robertson K Volmink J et al.The Drakensberg declaration on the control of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Africa.S Afr Med J. 2006; 96: 246PubMed Google Scholar In the past decade, the Drakensberg Declaration has spawned a series of studies that have shown that the burden of rheumatic heart disease is much higher than estimated in 2005. An influential echocardiography screening study4Marijon E Ou P Celermajer DS et al.Prevalence of rheumatic heart disease detected by echocardiographic screening.N Engl J Med. 2007; 357: 470-476Crossref PubMed Scopus (565) Google Scholar showed that the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease among school children was 30 per 1000 (95% CI 23 to 38) in Mozambique. The high prevalence in asymptomatic school children in the sub-Saharan African region was subsequently confirmed in Uganda where the rate was reported to be 15 per 1000 children (95% CI 7 to 22).5Beaton A Okello E Lwabi P Mondo C McCarter R Sable C Echocardiography screening for rheumatic heart disease in Ugandan schoolchildren.Circulation. 2012; 125: 3127-3132Crossref PubMed Scopus (179) Google Scholar Although no population-based studies of the incidence of acute rheumatic fever have been reported from Africa,6Tibazarwa KB Volmink JA Mayosi BM Incidence of acute rheumatic fever in the world: a systematic review of population-based studies.Heart. 2008; 94: 1534-1540Crossref PubMed Scopus (145) Google Scholar the incidence of heart failure due to rheumatic heart disease remains high.7Sliwa K Carrington M Mayosi BM Zigiriadis E Mvungi R Stewart S Incidence and characteristics of newly diagnosed rheumatic heart disease in Urban African adults: insights from the Heart of Soweto Study.Eur Heart J. 2010; 31: 719-727Crossref PubMed Scopus (177) Google Scholar, 8Damasceno A Mayosi BM Sani M et al.The causes, treatment, and outcome of acute heart failure in 1006 Africans from 9 countries: results of the sub-saharan africa survey of heart failure.Arch Int Med. 2012; 172: 1386-1394Crossref PubMed Scopus (320) Google Scholar In Soweto near Johannesburg, the industrial hub of South Africa where a low burden of rheumatic heart disease might be expected owing to better socioeconomic conditions,9Okello E Kakande B Sebatta E et al.Socioeconomic and environmental risk factors among rheumatic heart disease patients in Uganda.PLoS One. 2012; 7: e43917Crossref PubMed Scopus (44) Google Scholar the incidence of heart failure due to rheumatic heart disease ranges from 30 per 100 000 per year in individuals aged 14–19 years to 53 per 100 000 per year in people 60 years or older (figure).7Sliwa K Carrington M Mayosi BM Zigiriadis E Mvungi R Stewart S Incidence and characteristics of newly diagnosed rheumatic heart disease in Urban African adults: insights from the Heart of Soweto Study.Eur Heart J. 2010; 31: 719-727Crossref PubMed Scopus (177) Google Scholar The sub-Saharan Africa Survey of Heart Failure (THESUS-HF) registry of 1006 patients with heart failure from nine African countries shows that rheumatic heart disease is the third most important cause of heart failure in adult Africans, accounting for 14·3% of cases.8Damasceno A Mayosi BM Sani M et al.The causes, treatment, and outcome of acute heart failure in 1006 Africans from 9 countries: results of the sub-saharan africa survey of heart failure.Arch Int Med. 2012; 172: 1386-1394Crossref PubMed Scopus (320) Google Scholar The most worrying finding has been the high morbidity and mortality associated with rheumatic heart disease in pregnancy. A study10Diao M Kane A Ndiaye MB et al.Pregnancy in women with heart disease in sub-Saharan Africa.Arch Cardiovasc Dis. 2011; 104: 370-374Crossref PubMed Scopus (108) Google Scholar from Senegal showed that rheumatic heart disease is associated with a maternal mortality rate of 34% in pregnancy and a high rate of fetal loss among survivors. Therefore, the high burden of rheumatic heart disease in sub-Saharan Africa undermines efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Although much has been achieved over the past 10 years in terms of improved understanding of the high burden and poor outcomes associated with rheumatic heart disease in sub-Saharan Africa, little progress has been made in terms of establishing national prevention policies and programmes. It is therefore timely that PASCAR, in conjunction with WHO-AFRO, convened the 2nd All-Africa Workshop on Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease in Livingstone, Zambia, on Feb 1–2, 2014, to review progress and chart the way forward for the control of rheumatic heart disease in Africa. At the workshop, the failure to eliminate rheumatic heart disease was recognised as being related partly to the poor treatment of Streptococcus pharyngitis with penicillin in primary care in many African countries.11Karthikeyan G Mayosi BM Is primary prevention of rheumatic fever the missing link in the control of rheumatic heart disease in Africa?.Circulation. 2009; 120: 709-713Crossref PubMed Scopus (61) Google Scholar Furthermore, a virtual absence was noted of register-based secondary prevention programmes in African countries. An urgent need therefore exists for ministries of health to introduce programmes for the primary and secondary prevention of rheumatic heart disease through their non-communicable disease programmes. The delivery of penicillin for the treatment of sore throat in children and the prevention of recurrent attacks of rheumatic fever in affected individuals is the central intervention needed to eliminate rheumatic fever and control rheumatic heart disease.12Nordet P Lopez R Duenas A Sarmiento L Prevention and control of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease: the Cuban experience (1986–1996–2002).Cardiovasc J Afr. 2008; 19: 135-140PubMed Google Scholar PASCAR and WHO-AFRO have issued the Mosi-o-Tunya Call to Action13WHOThe Mosi-o-Tunya Call to Action.http://www.afro.who.int/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=9200&Itemid=2593Google Scholar to governments in endemic countries to ensure that the scourge of rheumatic heart disease is eliminated in our lifetimes. The 2nd All Africa Conference on Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease was funded in part by Novartis, the Wellcome Trust, the World Heart Federation, and the Pan African Society of Cardiology. We declare no competing interests. The 2nd All Africa Conference on Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease comprises Azza Abul-Fadl (Association of Friends of Children with Rheumatic Heart Disease, Cairo, Egypt); Moshood A Adeoye (Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria); Maxmillian Bweupe (Ministry of Health, Lusaka, Zambia); Yamikani Chimalizeni (College of Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi); Kaseya Chiyenu (University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia); Albertino Damasceno (Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique); Yadeta Dejuma (Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia); Anastase Dzudie (Department of Internal Medicine, Douala General Hospital, Douala, Cameroon); Ahmed ElSayed (Alzaeim Alazhari University, Khartoum, Sudan); Mark Engel (Department of Medicine, Groote Schuur Hospital and University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa); Robert Fubisha (Livingstone General Hospital, Livingstone, Zambia); Bernard Gitura, (Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya; Gloria Habanyana, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia); Christopher Hugo-Hamman (Windhoek Central Hospital, Windhoek, Namibia and Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital and University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa); Lorrita Kabwe (University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia); Svetlana Kalinichenko (University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia); Chipepo Kankasa (University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia); Aidan Long (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA); Joyce C Lungu (University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia); Pauline Mbangweta (Ministry of Health, Lusaka, Zambia); Rhoda Mkandawire (Ministry of Health, Lusaka, Zambia); Phindile Mntla (MEDUNSA Campus, University of Limpopo, Pretoria, South Africa); Ana Olga Mocumbi (Instituto Nacional de Saude, Maputo, Mozambique); Charles Mondo (Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda); Namani Monze (Livingstone General Hospital, Livingstone, Zambia); Agnes Mtaja (University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia); Joseph Mucumbitsi (Rwanda Heart Foundation, Kigali, Rwanda); John Musuku (University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia); Jonathan Ncheengamvu (University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia); Okechukwu S Ogah (Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria and Ministry of Health, Nnamdi Azikiwe Secretariat, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria); Elijah Ogola (Department of Medicine, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya); Dike B Ojji (University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria); Samuel I Omokhodion (Department of Paediatrics, University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria); Sam Phiri (Arthur Davidson Hospital, Zambia); Mahmoud U Sani (Department of Medicine, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and Bayero University, Kano, Kano State, Nigeria); Sahar Sheta (Faculty of Medicine and Cairo University New Children's Hospital, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt); Liesl Zuhlke (Departments of Medicine and Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Cape Town and Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa)