Rheumatic Heart Disease Prevention Program
Kenyan-Heart at work

Church and other Community Leaders pose for a group photo after a successful Rheumatic Heart Disease Prevention Program seminar organized and facilitated by Kenyan-Heart National Foundation.

Kenyan-Heart National Foundation’s CORE business is the Prevention of Heart Diseases and in particular Rheumatic Heart Disease.

Rheumatic Heart Disease is a Preventable Disease that mainly affects Children between 5-15 Years of Age, the School-going Age Group. It is a disease of Damaged Heart Valves and has been the centre of discussion in different World Heart Forums such as the World Heart Federation and the Pan African Society of Cardiology.

There are several initiatives that Kenyan-Heart has designed to Create Awareness of Rheumatic Heart Disease & its Prevention. These are:-

• Kenyan-Heart Capacity Building Seminars.
• Kenyan-Heart Local Committees Initiative.
• Kenyan-Heart Clubs.
• And Kenyan-Heart Talking Walls.

Rheumatic Heart Disease affects 15.6 million people worldwide and is the most common cardiovascular disease in Children and Youth. In developing countries there are 2.4 million Children between the age of 5 - 14 yrs affected by this Heart Disease. One million of these Children are in Sub-Sahara Africa.
 
It is Estimated that there are over 200,000 Cases of Rheumatic Heart Disease in Kenya Each year. It should, however be noted that, even with these figures serving as indicators of the Prevalence of Rheumatic Heart Disease, NOT All Cases of Rheumatic Heart Disease in Kenya and even in other Developing Countries are Recorded.
This is for various reasons some of them being that:

1. Majority of the people are never Correctly Diagnosed until the Disease has advanced way too far. Some of these then die from opportunistic Infections.
2. Others are never even diagnosed due to ignorance,
3. Or due to lack of the necessary funds for Diagnosis.
4. Others are diagnosed at an Advanced stage & are advised to be on Control/Management Drugs. Again, the Cost of these Drugs is too high for their meager means & they deteriorate & eventually die.
5. Others are diagnosed at some point & Open-Heart Surgery Recommended But again, the required Funds for this is way out of their Financial reach & so they die a Slow & Painful death.

The fact of the matter is that funds required for an Open Heart Surgery to replace the Damaged Heart Valves are way out of reach for most of the people affected as the minimum cost for surgery is Kshs 350,000 (USD 5,000).
At Kenyan-Heart National foundation we have many such cases in our waiting list. Patients who Cannot even afford to Fund-raise amongst their families & friends for the much needed but very expensive surgery.

An example of such a cases is 14 year old boy, Christopher Muraya, who comes from an extremely poor family. They live in one of the Slum areas in Nairobi Eastlands and is the Son of a Single Mother of four, who derives her livelihood from collecting Plastic bottles & papers, selling them to factories for recycling.
Kenyan-Heart is still trying to Fund-raise for his Open Heart Surgery.

Such cases have led to Rheumatic Heart Disease being called the Poor Man’s Disease. In the Developed Countries this disease is virtually unknown or has been eradicated. Yet, sadly enough, continues to drive children in Developing Countries to an early grave.

This is the reason why Kenyan-Heart National Foundation is Passionately Focusing on Educating & Creating Awareness amongst the School Communities & the Public at large, on How To Identify & Prevent Rheumatic Heart Disease, under the Funding of the Danish International Development Agency, DANIDA, & Kenyan-Heart’s Twinning Partner, the Danish Heart Foundation .

The first Pilot Project has been established in Nairobi Eastlands which has one of the largest population in Nairobi. There are approximately 1.5 -2 million people who live in this area out of the 4 million population in Nairobi. Majority of these people live under a Dollar a day and are therefore vulnerable to this Deadly Yet Preventable Disease.

Kenyan-Heart Capacity Building Training Seminars

The Kenyan-Heart Capacity Building Seminars are part of the Rheumatic Heart Disease Prevention Initiatives, where Representatives from different sectors of the Society such as Schools, Health Centres & Churches, within Nairobi Eastlands are Sensitised & Trained on Rheumatic Heart Disease, Its Prevalence and Prevention Measures.

Kenyan-Heart has trained over 1000 ToTs (Trainers of Trainers). Those who have undergone the training are then empowered to go and equip others in their spheres of influence.

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Kenyan-Heart works in Collaboration with the Ministry of Health through an Advisory/Technical/Professional Team that has been attached to Kenyan-Heart to  Oversee the running of this Project.

Kenyan-Heart also works Closely with the Ministry of Education because the Target Group is the School going Children, particularly now when the Government has offered Free Primary School Education.

Kenyan-Heart National Foundation is has Trained ToTs (Trainers Of Trainers) as follows:-

Kenyan-Heart National Foundation’s Goal for the next 2 years is to train 500 Teachers, 400 Clinicians & 400 Church Social Workers within Nairobi Eastlands, our Project Area.

What do we do?
Below is a preview of some of our work

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Risk Factors Prevention
Are you at risk? Find out more about this critical issue.
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Publications
Read some interesting Kenyan-Heart material.
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World Heart Day
Kenyan-Heart joins other countries around the world in marking World Heart Day every September.
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Rheumatic Heart Disease Prevention Program
Kenyan-Heart's CORE business is the Prevention of Heart Diseases and in particular Rheumatic Heart Disease.
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Talking Walls
The “Kenyan-Heart Talking Walls” are Yet another tool for imparting knowledge & information on How to Prevent Rheumatic Heart Disease.
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Kenyan-Heart Clubs
Kenyan-Heart Clubs showcase their Creative activities with the aim of Spreading the Message of Rheumatic Heart Disease Prevention.
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Local Committees Involvement
Kenyan-Heart Selects Leaders of various Groups right from the Grassroot & Educates them... once Empowered with this knowledge (they) are able to now Reach others from their Communities
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Treatment Program
For some prevention is no longer an option. For those who require urgent medical intervention, Kenyan-Heart makes an effort to assist needy patients access treatment.
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