Funders:
Collaborators:
  1. The fight against rheumatic heart disease continues into the new decade

    The fight against rheumatic heart disease continues into the new decade

    Date

    Health experts from across Australia and New Zealand have teamed up with cultural advisors to address what they say is the greatest cardiovascular inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

  2. Partnership provides vital service to Maningrida

    Partnership provides vital service to Maningrida

    Date

    The provision of Orange Sky Australia free laundry facilities comes about following a study by Menzies School of Health Research.

  3. Top award for Noongar woman with nursing in her blood

    Top award for Noongar woman with nursing in her blood

    Date

    The Senior | Vicki is senior cultural advisor with Rheumatic Heart Disease Australia, which is based at Darwin's Menzies School of Health Research.

  4. Heartfelt song beats back infection

    Heartfelt song beats back infection

    Date

    The song debuted at the Barunga Festival, after a collaboration between Skinnyfish Music, the Bupa Health Foundation, Telethon Kids and the Menzies School of Health Research.

  5. Catchy new song could save thousands of children from deadly RHD

    Catchy new song could save thousands of children from deadly RHD

    Date

    Indigenous children in Barunga have put together a catchy song in the hope it will save others from a crippling disease killing thousands.

  6. CDU Enews | Menzies staffer wins national award for RHD research

    CDU Enews | Menzies staffer wins national award for RHD research

    Date

    Dr Josh Francis, a researcher from the Menzies School of Health Research, has been recognised by his national peers for his work on rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Timor-Leste.

  7. Wire | RHD SCREENING CONTINUES

    Wire | RHD SCREENING CONTINUES

    Date

    Health professionals and Maningrida stakeholders have come together to continue screenings of rheumatic heart disease (RHD).

  8. Wire | RHD SCREENING CONTINUES

    Wire | RHD SCREENING CONTINUES

    Date

    Health professionals and Maningrida stakeholders have come together to continue screenings of rheumatic heart disease (RHD).

  9. Timorese Government prepares plan to prevent and combat rheumatic heart disease

    Timorese Government prepares plan to prevent and combat rheumatic heart disease

    Date

    The Timorese Ministry of Health is designing a prevention and diagnosis plan, part of the Family Health program, to combat rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, the ministry's minister announced today.

  10. DN Lusa - Timor-Leste Pedriño Study

    DN Lusa - Timor-Leste Pedriño Study

    Date

    An Australian study has shown that Timor-Leste has one of the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease in the world, with most cases being diagnosed, until children and young people develop serious problems.

  11. Saving Lives of remote children | NT News

    Saving Lives of remote children | NT News

    Date

    Darwin researchers have uncovered alarming rates of rheumatic heart disease in East Timorese children.

  12. Cardiologists identify alarming levels of rheumatic heart disease in Timor-Leste

    Cardiologists identify alarming levels of rheumatic heart disease in Timor-Leste

    Date

    Research by Australian cardiologists has found the rates of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Timor-Leste are among the highest in the world. The landmark study was published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

  13. Rheumatic heart disease program in East Timor 'saving lives' with 'simple' penicillin injections

    Date

    Australian doctors are working with East Timorese health workers to screen and treat children and young people with the illness, using methods similar to those used in Australia.

Aims:
  • To screen school students in Timor-Leste and the Northern Territory, using echocardiography to identify cases of rheumatic heart disease (RHD)
  • To determine the sensitivity and specificity of a highly abbreviated echo protocol for the detection of RHD, using a single parasternal long axis (PSLAX) view obtained by handheld echo machine
  • To demonstrate the feasibility of using briefly trained health workers doing PSLAX view echos to detect RHD
Summary:

We will screen children for RHD in a remote Northern Territory community and in Timor-Leste, to find new cases, so that these children can receive effective prevention with penicillin injections. 
Echo screening usually requires full exposure of the chest, which is time consuming and invasive, and makes screening in public settings such as schools challenging. Therefore, we will test a different approach to screening: using trained health workers to do echo screening with a single view at the centre of the chest, which can be done rapidly, without removing clothing. If this works well, it will be possible to train health workers so that they can screen many more school aged children more efficiently.

Implications for policy and practice:

We plan to use the findings of this study to establish a strategy for implementing this new rapid approach to screening on a large scale in Northern Australia and in Timor-Leste, enabling detection of many cases of rheumatic heart disease.

Chief Investigator:
Project Manager:
  • Dr Helen Fairhurst 
Project Dates: 
  • 1 September 2017 – 31 August 2018