A team led by Dr Joseph Kado from the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, based at Telethon Kids Institute, and The University of Western Australia (UWA) has been awarded $5 million by the Federal Government in a major push to prevent rheumatic heart disease across the Pacific.
Rheumatic heart disease is one of the most common forms of preventable heart disease in the region and causes considerable death and disability for young people and their communities. The funding will support a partnership between UWA, the Institute, Pacific Governments and other experts over the next four years.
iTaukei Fijian Paediatrician Dr Kado said the goal of the Telethon Kids / UWA -led RHD Pacific program was to establish the foundations of an effective, sustainable and equitable response to RHD in the Pacific, giving countries improved capacity for sustainable, equitable control of RHD.
“We will develop a Fiji-based Pacific Knowledge hub and run focused work programs in Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, which do not have existing control programs for RHD and have received only intermittent funding and support to date,” Dr Kado said.
“This funding is transformative. It will make it possible to foster Pacific-based expertise and support countries to take action on the preventable tragedy of RHD.
“This project will also collaborate with Champions4Change, an advocacy and leadership program for Aboriginal and Torres Islander peoples with lived experience of rheumatic heart disease, to share their valuable expertise with the Pacific.”
Other Telethon Kids researchers involved in the project include Institute Executive Director, Professor Jonathan Carapetis, and Dr Rosemary Wyber. Project partners include:
- Cure Kids
- Reach
- MCRI
- Heart Foundation Australia
- Ministry of Health and Medical Services – Fiji
- Ministry of Health and Medical Services - Solomon Islands
- Ministry of Health – Vanuatu
You can read more information on the Institute’s research into RHD here.