Did you know that Timor-Leste has one of the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in the world, and it’s entirely preventable?
This serious disease that can result in permanent damage to the heart valves doesn’t require highly complicated prevention methods. Instead, early detection and access to treatment can transform the potential outcomes for Timor-Leste communities, reducing rates of RHD and its subsequent impact on conditions including heart failure, stroke, disability, and premature death. At Maluk Timor, we’re hard at work to create more access to prevention and treatment pathways throughout the country, tackling this preventable crisis region by region.
As the most commonly acquired heart disease in individuals under the age of 25, rheumatic heart disease can easily pass from individual to individual through the transfer of bacteria. Disproportionately affecting children and young people in low- and middle-income countries, RHD has been eradicated in many parts of the world, but continues to pose a significant risk to the people of Timor-Leste. Here’s what we’re doing to tackle this health crisis and improve mortality rates, longevity, and quality of life for Timor-Leste’s people.
Why RHD is so prevalent in Timor-Leste
As with many of the health challenges facing Timor-Leste, multiple factors contribute to the high rates of RHD throughout the country. These include:
- Limited or restricted access to healthcare. With so many families throughout the country living in remote areas where access to medical care is either complex or non-existent, distance and geographical challenges can mean a gap in the provision of key healthcare services. For some, a trip to the nearest healthcare provider takes days. Antibiotics can fight back against simple infections such as strep throat (which can develop into rheumatic fever and RHD), but not if locals aren’t able to access them.
- A lack of education around RHD, its symptoms and its causes. Since RHD can begin with simple symptoms such as a sore throat, many parents in Timor-Leste haven’t been educated to know that this could be a symptom of a much bigger health risk. Without this crucial health education, many Timor-Leste children aren’t treated early enough to prevent a disease such as strep throat developing into RHD.
- Crowded living conditions. For some of Timor-Leste’s population who are living amongst overcrowded living conditions, the risk of bacteria spreading from person to person can increase. This means that children and young people who are living in close proximity to each other can pass strep throat on quickly, resulting in increasing cases of rheumatic fever and heightened risks of the development of RHD.
Timor-Leste faces many complications in eradicating RHD – but with adequate support and strategic care, there’s brighter hope for the country’s future.
How we’re working to overcome RHD
We’re currently working closely with the Ministry of Health to promote early detection and maintain a national database of patients with RHD. As treatment programs for the disease can last up to a decade, this crucial work sees us helping to manage the ongoing care of the hundreds of patients already living with the disease in Timor-Leste.
At Maluk Timor, our approach to reducing (and eradicating!) the impact of RHD on Timor-Leste takes multiple forms in response to its multifaceted challenge. Our work includes:
- Promoting and delivering screenings for RHD. Providing access to echocardiograms and screening programs, we’re able to increase early detection rates for RHD, improving potential outcomes for patients with this life-threatening disease.
- Supporting ongoing access to treatment. Our nurses collaborate each week with doctors and nurses from the Ministry of Health, working together to ensure access to penicillin. For many Timorese people, this access is truly life-saving.
- Developing national guidelines. Maluk Timor has been responsible for developing the guidelines that have since been adopted by the Ministry of Health as their official RHD guidelines. They’re currently being used to model a new national program which will encompass penicillin injection training for healthcare workers, as well as the management, diagnosis and treatment procedures necessary to provide ongoing care to RHD patients.
- Delivering crucial training and mentoring programs. Under the guidance of our RHD guidelines, we continue to work with the Ministry of Health to train doctors and nurses across the country, improving early detection rates and providing access to life-saving antibiotics via appropriate care.
- Access to Cardiac Clinics. In collaboration with East Timor Hearts Fund, Maluk Timor provides Cardiac Clinics that give Timorese patients access to the same quality of expertise and care that’s available to Australian residents, shaped within local cultural considerations.
- International referrals for surgery. When a patient with RHD is identified as requiring surgery because of this disease, our team works to coordinate visas, logistics and planning, enabling the smooth and safe transport of the patient.
We’ve got a long way to go when it comes to eradicating the preventable crisis of rheumatic heart disease in Timor-Leste, but with the support of our global community, we’re making a difference every day in the lives of Timorese people facing the risk of this life-threatening disease.
Conclusion
When it comes to fighting RHD in Timor-Leste, small donations can make a significant difference. The cost of a penicillin dose from Australia is just $20, while $850/month can cover the cost of a local doctor in Maluk Timor’s RHD mentoring program, or $650/month, seeing an entire salary covered for an RHD nurse. With our current RHD service costing approximately $100,000 a year to deliver, we have great hopes for the future with continued growth: the development of further national training guidelines, the funding of an echocardiographic training program, and further support for research and development of audio-visual community education resources. That’s where you come in. As a part of our global family, we invite you to play a role in giving good health and a bright future to more Timorese children. Learn more about how you can change the world for Timor-Leste’s families and communities one month at a time!