NZ’s horrific 3rd world health status

NZ’s horrific 3rd world health status

Media Release
17 June, 2009

Rheumatic fever - the unnecessary disease of children, with lifetime consequences...

A leading Auckland medical researcher is calling for government and community support for new Heart Foundation guidelines to stop third world levels of a preventable disease in New Zealand – simply by managing sore throats appropriately.

Professor Diana Lennon wants health authorities to take up the challenge and prevent rheumatic heart disease, in order to reduce our present rates that she is labelling third world.

"Rheumatic fever rates within some pockets of New Zealand are now among the worst in the world, yet it hardly exists in other developed countries,” says Professor Lennon.

“The tragedy is that we can stop rheumatic fever developing just by treating sore throats, which can save people a lifetime of debilitation.”

The East Coast, South Auckland and Northland are the worst affected areas and the prevalence of the disease remains highest amongst a third of New Zealand’s children who are poor and have inadequate access to healthcare.

Rheumatic fever specialists from around the world – South Africa and Australia included - are gathering at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland this Friday for a two day conference dedicated to wiping rheumatic fever from New Zealand’s health landscape. The Rheumatic Fever Workshop is being backed by The University of Auckland, the Ministry of Health and the Heart Foundation.

Professor Lennon, a leading paediatrician and researcher in rheumatic fever, says the fact it still exists in pockets of New Zealand is unacceptable.

“That we have around 150 people dying annually from complications arising from rheumatic fever – namely rheumatic heart disease – is completely unacceptable. We are unnecessarily burdening our children with this and the reality is that people with rheumatic heart disease are often unable to work and die young,” says Professor Lenn`n, who has long lobbied for greater action in wiping out the disease.

“This preventable disease of children casts a long shadow into adult life. Pacific Islanders are 50 times more likely to develop rheumatic fever than Europeans and Maori 25 times as likely.

“Of New Zealand children, one third who are Maori and Pacific are at risk of developing rheumatic fever and it is a debilitating and life-lasting illness if left untreated. For every 100 people who develop rheumatic fever, 20 will be seriously affected and some will require a heart transplant later in life due to a permanently damaged heart as a result of the disease,” she says.

The Heart Foundation has sponsored the new national guidelines for rheumatic fever which provide a suitable platform for more effective prevention and improved management.

Heart Foundation Medical Director, Professor Norman Sharpe, believes relatively simple measures within our health system could see rheumatic fever eliminated within 10 years.

“The present rheumatic fever incidence and consequences represent a gross inequality in health risk which is truly ‘third world’ level and should be regarded as embarrassing and intolerable,” says Professor Sharpe.

“Eradication must be a high priority for our community and should be a measure of how much we actually care for our children.

“We have worked hard over the past four years to complete a set of modern, and very workable, rheumatic fever guidelines which provide a very good foundation for eradicating the disease. I believe we can achieve that within 10 years if we take a common sense primary healthcare approach.

“It is as simple as taking sore throats seriously in children at risk of rheumatic fever. This may mean having school sore throat clinics in especially high risk areas to ensure sore throats are treated immediately,” says Professor Sharpe.

ENDS

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