Childhood Heart Diseases
Equitable Care for People Living with Childhood Heart Diseases: The PEN-Plus Model
Nine-year-old children who survive acute rheumatic fever in low and lower-middle-income countries have a 20 percent chance of dying before their 15th birthday and a greater than 70 percent chance of dying before the age of 25. This tragedy is as medically unnecessary as it is unjust.
To address this gap in care, the NCDI Poverty Network is working with 22 resource-poor countries around the world to implement PEN-Plus, a proven integrated-care delivery model for severe, chronic noncommunicable diseases such as rheumatic and congenital heart disease, type 1 diabetes, and sickle cell disease.
For people living with childhood heart diseases, for example, PEN-Plus clinics provide specialized care close to home, critical medications, and money for food and transportation to clinic.
“I sought treatment but could not find a diagnosis. I was having serious trouble breathing and could feel and smell blood when I breathed. Today I am taking medicines and my life has improved a lot. In the year years of my illness, I couldn’t walk. But today, I can walk, and anyone who doesn’t know me can’t tell I have a health problem.”
- Damarce Uwimana, a young mother living with rheumatic heart disease in rural Rwanda
