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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development

BeatRHD Zambia

    Description
    Description
    This partnership is working to eliminate rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Zambia. RHD is caused by streptococcal pharyngitis, commonly known as strep throat. Strep throat is easily treated with penicillin. But untreated, some patients will eventually form scars on valves of the heart. Over time, this can lead to heart failure and, ultimately, early death. In sub-Saharan Africa, recent studies show that a staggering 1-3% of school-age children have early signs of disease. “BeatRHD Zambia” is tackling RHD through a multi-faceted effort involving research, health system strengthening, public awareness, and health policy activities.
    Expected Impact

    (1) Research. New technology is revolutionizing the way doctors can identify children with RHD. Portable echocardio¬graphy machines create ultrasound images of the heart that can show tissue damage even before symptoms appear. Using this new technology, over 3,000 schoolchildren in Lusaka have been screened. Children diagnosed with RHD are offered monthly penicillin injections. The in-country stocks of penicillin have been supplemented by a product grant from Sandoz to help ensure availability. The results of the screening are being analyzed currently and will, for the first time, indicate the prevalence of RHD in a Zambian population using echocardiography. (2) Health system strengthening. The partnership supports efforts of the local doctors and nurses to strengthen health systems in Lusaka to help children with strep throat and RHD receive the treatment they need. Currently, 7 government clinics in Lusaka have been enrolled in this effort. All clinics completed an initial training workshop about RHD prevention and treatment and receive ongoing coaching by nurses from the university hospital. Free penicillin treatment is offered to patients, including medicine that was granted by Sandoz to the Ministry of Health. At the invitation of the health authorities in Zambia, the partnership plans to extend the rollout of the RHD training and treatment effort from the initial Lusaka scheme to multiple provinces across Zambia. (3) Public awareness. Public awareness is essential to RHD prevention and treatment. The partnership has distributed key messages through television and radio programs, and educational brochures and posters. Many of these activities took place during a nationally sponsored “RHD Week” in August 2015 that was launched with a televised address by Zambia’s Minister of Health. (4) Policy. The partnership has contributed to health policy work to support RHD elimination throughout Africa. Partners helped to sponsor meetings of technical experts from more than 10 countries on three occasions under the auspices of the Pan African Society of Cardiology, which ultimately helped seed an RHD Policy Roadmap developed by the African Union and agreed upon by African Ministers of Health and Heads of States in 2015.

    Capacity

    (1) Capacity-Building: Echocardiography services. As part of the partnership’s research efforts we helped to develop local technical expertise to conduct echocardiographic screening suitable for resource-limited environments. This was necessary because few health workers in Lusaka are skilled in cardiac echocardiography. Rather than relying exclusively on experts from abroad, from the outset of the study we chose to use this effort to build local echocardiographic capabilities that could be applied to subsequent clinical and research activities in Zambia. (2) Technology transfer: “eRegister” for improved patient care. The clinical management of patients with RHD is complex. It requires monthly penicillin injections, regular clinical examinations, and echocardiography at least once or twice annually. A novel mobile, electronic patient register (“eRegister”) was developed and deployed to help doctors and nurses to track patient care. The partners are now providing support to facilitate rollout of this new electronic registry system in other African countries.

    Governed

    The initiative is coordinated by Dr. John Musuku, Chief of Paediatrics at University Teaching Hospital. The Zambia Ministry of Health approves all programs that take place in government clinics. The University of Zambia and the Zambia Paediatric Association provide technical expertise. Novartis provides strategic planning and project management assistance, along with technical expertise and some grants. The partners have teleconferences 2-4 times monthly to discuss planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of program activities.

    Partners
    University Teaching Hospital (Lusaka, Zambia), Zambia Ministry of Health, University of Zambia, Zambia Paediatric Association, Sandoz, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research

    Goal 17

    Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

    Goal 17

    17.1

    Strengthen domestic resource mobilization, including through international support to developing countries, to improve domestic capacity for tax and other revenue collection

    17.1.1
    Total government revenue as a proportion of GDP, by source
    17.1.2
    Proportion of domestic budget funded by domestic taxes

    17.2

    Developed countries to implement fully their official development assistance commitments, including the commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of ODA/GNI to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to least developed countries; ODA providers are encouraged to consider setting a target to provide at least 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to least developed countries

    17.2.1
    Net official development assistance, total and to least developed countries, as a proportion of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee donors’ gross national income (GNI)

    17.3

    Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources

    17.3.1

    Additional financial resources mobilized for developing countries from multiple sources 

    17.3.2
    Volume of remittances (in United States dollars) as a proportion of total GDP

    17.4

    Assist developing countries in attaining long-term debt sustainability through coordinated policies aimed at fostering debt financing, debt relief and debt restructuring, as appropriate, and address the external debt of highly indebted poor countries to reduce debt distress

    17.4.1
    Debt service as a proportion of exports of goods and services

    17.5

    Adopt and implement investment promotion regimes for least developed countries

    17.5.1

    Number of countries that adopt and implement investment promotion regimes for developing countries, including the least developed countries

    17.6

    Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism

    17.6.1

     Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by speed

    17.7

    Promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed

    17.7.1

    Total amount of funding for developing countries to promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies

    17.8

    Fully operationalize the technology bank and science, technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism for least developed countries by 2017 and enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology

    17.8.1
    Proportion of individuals using the Internet

    17.9

    Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development Goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation

    17.9.1

    Dollar value of financial and technical assistance (including through North-South, South‑South and triangular cooperation) committed to developing countries

    17.10

    Promote a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organization, including through the conclusion of negotiations under its Doha Development Agenda

    17.10.1
    Worldwide weighted tariff-average

    17.11

    Significantly increase the exports of developing countries, in particular with a view to doubling the least developed countries’ share of global exports by 2020

    17.11.1

    Developing countries’ and least developed countries’ share of global exports

    17.12

    Realize timely implementation of duty-free and quota-free market access on a lasting basis for all least developed countries, consistent with World Trade Organization decisions, including by ensuring that preferential rules of origin applicable to imports from least developed countries are transparent and simple, and contribute to facilitating market access

    17.12.1

    Weighted average tariffs faced by developing countries, least developed countries and small island developing States

    17.13

    Enhance global macroeconomic stability, including through policy coordination and policy coherence

    17.13.1
    Macroeconomic Dashboard

    17.14

    Enhance policy coherence for sustainable development

    17.14.1
    Number of countries with mechanisms in place to enhance policy coherence of sustainable development

    17.15

    Respect each country’s policy space and leadership to establish and implement policies for poverty eradication and sustainable development 

    17.15.1
    Extent of use of country-owned results frameworks and planning tools by providers of development cooperation

    17.16

    Enhance the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in all countries, in particular developing countries

    17.16.1

    Number of countries reporting progress in multi-stakeholder development effectiveness monitoring frameworks that support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

    17.17

    Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships 

    17.17.1

    Amount in United States dollars committed to public-private partnerships for infrastructure

    17.18

    By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts

    17.18.1

    Statistical capacity indicators

    17.18.2
    Number of countries that have national statistical legislation that complies with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics
    17.18.3

    Number of countries with a national statistical plan that is fully funded and under implementation, by source of funding

    17.19

    By 2030, build on existing initiatives to develop measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product, and support statistical capacity-building in developing countries

    17.19.1
    Dollar value of all resources made available to strengthen statistical capacity in developing countries
    17.19.2

    Proportion of countries that (a) have conducted at least one population and housing census in the last 10 years; and (b) have achieved 100 per cent birth registration and 80 per cent death registration

    Goal 3

    Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

    Goal 3

    3.1

    By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births
    3.1.1

    Maternal mortality ratio

    3.1.2

    Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

    3.2

    By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births
    3.2.1

    Under-five mortality rate

    3.2.2

    Neonatal mortality rate

    3.3

    By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases

    3.3.1

    Number of new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population, by sex, age and key populations

    3.3.2

    Tuberculosis incidence per 100,000 population

    3.3.3

    Malaria incidence per 1,000 population

    3.3.4

    Hepatitis B incidence per 100,000 population

    3.3.5

    Number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical diseases

    3.4

    By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being
    3.4.1

    Mortality rate attributed to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease

    3.4.2

    Suicide mortality rate

    3.5

    Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol

    3.5.1

    Coverage of treatment interventions (pharmacological, psychosocial and rehabilitation and aftercare services) for substance use disorders

    3.5.2

    Alcohol per capita consumption (aged 15 years and older) within a calendar year in litres of pure alcohol

    3.6

    By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents
    3.6.1

    Death rate due to road traffic injuries

    3.7

    By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes

    3.7.1

    Proportion of women of reproductive age (aged 15-49 years) who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods

    3.7.2

    Adolescent birth rate (aged 10-14 years; aged 15-19 years) per 1,000 women in that age group

    3.8

    Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all

    3.8.1

    Coverage of essential health services

    3.8.2

    Proportion of population with large household expenditures on health as a share of total household expenditure or income

    3.9

    By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination
    3.9.1

    Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution

    3.9.2

    Mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, unsafe sanitation and lack of hygiene (exposure to unsafe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All (WASH) services)

    3.9.3

    Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisoning

    3.a

    Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate
    3.a.1

    Age-standardized prevalence of current tobacco use among persons aged 15 years and older

    3.b

    Support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and non-communicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries, provide access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines, in accordance with the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which affirms the right of developing countries to use to the full the provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights regarding flexibilities to protect public health, and, in particular, provide access to medicines for all

    3.b.1

    Proportion of the target population covered by all vaccines included in their national programme

    3.b.2
    Total net official development assistance to medical research and basic health sectors
    3.b.3

    Proportion of health facilities that have a core set of relevant essential medicines available and affordable on a sustainable basis

    3.c

    Substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries, especially in least developed countries and small island developing States
    3.c.1

    Health worker density and distribution

    3.d

    Strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks

    3.d.1

    International Health Regulations (IHR) capacity and health emergency preparedness

    3.d.2

    Percentage of bloodstream infections due to selected antimicrobial-resistant organisms

    Name Description
    Eight additional clinics in Lusaka enrolled into RHD program.
    First meeting of RHD patient support group.
    Public awareness messages distributed countrywide during “RHD Week”.
    Extension of RHD program in clinics beyond Lusaka to other provinces.
    Financing (in USD)
    150000
    Staff / Technical expertise
    Two full-time project managers based in Lusaka.
    Staff / Technical expertise
    Technical expertise (Paediatric medicine, statistical support, etc) contributed by various partners at University Teaching Hospital and University of Zambia.
    In-kind contribution
    Strategic planning, project management assistance, and technical expertise contributed by Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.
    Title Progress Status Submitted
    Partnership Progress 2016-04-29 On track
    False
    This initiative does not yet fulfil the SMART criteria.
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    Timeline
    01 January 1970 (start date)
    01 January 1970 (date of completion)
    Entity
    Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research
    SDGs
    Geographical coverage
    Lusaka, Zambia
    Website/More information
    N/A
    Countries
    Zambia
    Zambia
    Contact Information

    Jonathan Spector, Head, Global Health