Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) – a disease of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities – has long been neglected by global and national health efforts. Now, at the dawn of the new sustainable development agenda, an opportunity has arisen to help the international community eliminate this preventable disease: all countries in the world have renewed their commitments to achieve universal health coverage (UHC).
The year 2015 marked a decade since the World Health Organization first passed a Resolution on UHC, and also marked the inclusion of UHC into the 2030 Agenda for sustainable global development. It is therefore urgent that countries take decisive steps to integrate RHD services into national UHC packages.
This paper, prepared by the RHD Action Alliance of which World Heart Federation is a founding member, sets out the compelling rationale for integration of RHD into UHC, and offers concrete actions to make this humanitarian vision a reality. Together, through our global quest towards UHC, let’s consign this preventable disease to the history books.
