Prevalence of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Bangladeshi children

Evaluating the availability of essential drugs for hypertension, diabetes and asthma in rural Rwanda, 2018

SETTING

Hypertension, diabetes mellitus and asthma are on the rise in developing countries, including Rwanda; there is thus a need to ensure uninterrupted drug availability.

OBJECTIVES

To assess 1) the frequency and duration of drug stock-outs; 2) lead time duration 3) monthly stock levels; and 4) drug quantities requested vs. quantity delivered for captopril, metformin and inhaled salbutamol between January and December 2018 Kirehe District, Rwanda.

DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional study using secondary programme data.

RESULTS

The median annual stock-outs for captopril, metformin and inhaled salbutamol were respectively 4 (IQR 3-4), 3 (IQR 2-3) and 4 (IQR 4-5) at rural health facilities (RHCs); no stock-outs occurred at the district hospital. For all three drugs, the median lead time was 7.5 days (IQR 5.5-11.5) at the hospital vs. 5 days (IQR 3-6) in RHCs. Stock status for captopril was below the 4-week minimum stock level for 2/12 months at the hospital vs. 7/12 months at the RHCs, while metformin and inhaled salbutamol were below the 4-week minimum stock levels for respectively 1/12 and 4/12 months at both hospital and RHCs. Total drug quantities delivered were less than the combined total quantities requested in respectively 8/12, 5/12 and 8/12 months for captopril, metformin and inhaled salbutamol.

CONCLUSION

There is a need to regularly and effectively monitor drug stock levels and ensure timely and sufficient stock replenishment to avert stock-outs.

Prevalence and progression of rheumatic heart disease: a global systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based echocardiographic studies

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to provide a contemporaneous estimate of the global burden of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) from echocardiographic population-based studies. We searched multiple databases between January 01, 1996 and October 17, 2017. Random-effect meta-analysis was used to pool data. We included 82 studies (1,090,792 participant) reporting data on the prevalence of RHD and 9 studies on the evolution of RHD lesions. The pooled prevalence of RHD was 26.1‰ (95%CI 19.2-33.1) and 11.3‰ (95%CI 7.2-16.2) for studies which used the World Heart Federation (WHF) and World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, respectively. The prevalence of RHD varied inversely with the level of a country's income, was lower with the WHO criteria compared to the WHF criteria, and was lowest in South East Asia. Definite RHD progressed in 7.5% (95% CI 1.5-17.6) of the cases, while 60.7% (95% CI 42.4-77.5) of cases remained stable over the course of follow-up. The proportion of cases borderline RHD who progressed to definite RHD was 11.3% (95% CI 6.9-16.5). The prevalence of RHD across WHO regions remains high. The highest prevalence of RHD was noted among studies which used the WHF diagnostic criteria. Definite RHD tends to progress or remain stable over time.

Emerging Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases in Bangladesh

As a result of an epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases for last few decades, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are being considered as an important cause of mortality and morbidity in many developing countries including Bangladesh. Performing an extensive literature search, we compiled, summarized, and categorized the existing information about CVD mortality and morbidity among different clusters of Bangladeshi population. The present review reports that the burden of CVD in terms of mortality and morbidity is on the rise in Bangladesh. Despite a few non-communicable disease prevention and control programs currently running in Bangladesh, there is an urgent need for well-coordinated national intervention strategies and public health actions to minimize the CVD burden in Bangladesh. As the main challenge for CVD control in a developing country is unavailability of adequate epidemiological data related to various CVD events, the present review attempted to accumulate such data in the current context of Bangladesh. This may be of interest to all stakeholder groups working for CVD prevention and control across the country and globe.