New parliamentary push targets rheumatic heart disease as preventable crisis persists

A new parliamentary push to end rheumatic heart disease is placing renewed attention on one of Australia’s clearest examples of preventable inequality, with Aboriginal health leaders warning that too many First Nations children, young people and women are still living with a disease that should not persist in a wealthy country.

The new Parliamentary Friends for Ending Rheumatic Heart Disease was launched at Parliament House this week with support from the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and the RHD Alliance. The group is intended to keep pressure on governments and decision-makers as advocates push for stronger action on prevention, treatment and the social conditions that drive the disease. The campaign reflects a growing frustration that acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease remain widespread in First Nations communities even though both are preventable and treatable.

More than 11,000 people in Australia are currently living with acute rheumatic fever or rheumatic heart disease and the burden falls overwhelmingly on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. AIHW data shows rheumatic heart disease is “a disease of disadvantage” linked to poor-quality housing, overcrowding, barriers to primary health care and the conditions that allow untreated Strep A infections to escalate into long-term heart damage. As at the end of 2021, prevalence among First Nations people was highest in the Northern Territory, and incidence rates across key jurisdictions have risen rather than fallen over the past decade.

Associate Professor Vicki Wade, a senior Noongar woman and member of the RHD Alliance, said the gap between what is medically possible and what is happening on the ground is unacceptable. “Rheumatic heart disease is entirely preventable, yet too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people and women are still living with the consequences of a disease that should not exist in this country” she said.

NACCHO argues the answer must be community-controlled and place-based. Its ARF and RHD program now supports 29 ACCHOs across more than 100 clinics and homelands, funding workforce growth and locally designed prevention, screening, treatment and patient support. The organisation describes it as the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled and community-led approach to ARF and RHD in Australia, built on the principle that sustainable change depends on First Nations leadership.

That point matters because rheumatic heart disease is not just a medical issue. It sits at the intersection of housing, environmental health, access to washing facilities, primary care, poverty and continuity of treatment. The new parliamentary group may not solve those problems by itself but it creates a stronger political platform for a campaign that has long argued Australia already knows enough to prevent this disease. The challenge is whether it will now act with the urgency that knowledge demands.