Philips Foundation partners with World Heart Federation to provide half a million children at risk of rheumatic heart disease with access to life-saving early detection

The partnership, which kicks off in the Philippines, aims to provide over half a million at-risk children with access to healthcare facilities equipped with trained personnel to diagnose the disease. 190 Regional Health Units (RHUs) providing primary care to a population of over five million will have healthcare workers trained on the rheumatic fever/RHD clinical pathway. 6,000 children in the Philippines will also be screened for RHD using Philips' innovative handheld point-of-care ultrasound device (POCUS). Additionally, around 200 teachers will be educated on RHD, leading to greater disease awareness that increasing the likelihood that children and young adults seek early diagnosis and treatment.

Launching this year and extending until June 2025, the pilot project in the Philippines targets a combination of challenges – low disease awareness, lack of healthcare access and treatment, inadequate diagnosis, and inadequate medical training – to drive a comprehensive approach to alleviating the burden of RHD. The project also has the support and cooperation of the Philippines Ministry of Health, which ensures alignment with the existing healthcare system, contributing to its long-term sustainability.

The project builds on insights gained through a collaborative effort between Philips Foundation and Heart Healers International in Uganda, which looked at the pivotal role of penicillin in the early intervention and management of RHD. Over 100,000 children received echocardiographic screening through the program in 2018, out of which 1,000 have been enrolled in a penicillin treatment program, and five have received life-saving heart surgeries.

“Our partnership with the World Heart Federation aims to drive improved early detection and treatment of rheumatic heart disease, while demonstrating the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of this innovative approach in the Philippines,” said Margot Cooijmans, Director of the Philips Foundation. “Rheumatic heart disease remains a pressing issue in underserved regions across the globe, largely overlooked in the global health agenda. The lack of attention and resources in these settings prompts us to ensure that these communities are not left behind as they battle a disease that has already been eradicated elsewhere.”

RHD is a life-threatening but preventable heart condition that affects an estimated 40 million people worldwide, primarily adolescents and children [1]. In the APAC region, the prevalence and mortality rates are particularly significant, with the largest estimated number of cases of RHD in 2015 in India at 13.17 million cases followed by Indonesia with a high prevalence of 1.18 million [2]. The Philippines is also among the higher-burden countries [3].

The project's innovative decentralized model of RHD care allows children diagnosed with RHD to receive follow-up treatment within their local community. This approach ensures that the treatment model is sustainable and respects existing healthcare infrastructure, a critical factor for the success of this model in other parts of the world.

This partnership will provide further evidence of the benefits of POCUS use for RHD and an example that can be implemented elsewhere in the region. The World Heart Federation and Philips Foundation will share their preliminary findings of the Philippines project at the inaugural Global Congress on RHD in Abu Dhabi in November 2023 to facilitate discussions on further collaboration projects to advocate for the use of POCUS in the screening of RHD and drive targeted actions to support the implementation in primary care settings across highly prevalent countries in the APAC region.