Highlights the severe global disparities in pediatric cardiac care, noting that over 90% of children in LMICs lack access to necessary cardiovascular care.
Over one million children are born with congenital heart disease (CHD) each year around the world (1). Approximately one in two children with CHD will require surgical or interventional care at least once in their lifetime (2), whereas one in five will need an intervention to survive to their first birthday (3). In addition, rheumatic heart disease (RHD) represents the most common acquired cardiovascular disease among children and adolescents (4). RHD is a disease of poverty largely eradicated in high-income countries, yet it continues to affect dozens of millions of people across low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) (4,5). Despite this considerable burden of cardiac surgical disease, over 90% of children in LMICs no access to cardiovascular care (6,7) resulting in more than 90% of deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in children to be "excess" (8).
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Vervoort et al. (2023) studied this question.
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