The Rheumatic Heart Disease unit expresses enthusiasm for the upcoming series of community health expos.

RHD Divisional Coordinator for Central and Eastern Poonam Pal emphasizes the importance for parents to prioritize their children’s health by availing them for examination during the expos within their respective divisions.

Pal says Rheumatic Heart Disease is preventable, yet a lack of attention has resulted in many Fijian children succumbing to it in the past.

“We have at least one child in every classroom who suffers with Rheumatic heart disease in Fiji and we have at least 60 deaths every year because of rheumatic heart disease.”

Pal urges parents to make their children available for screening, as the process during expos is much simpler.

“We do have screenings happening in the hospitals but that’s upon booking but I’d like to also say, you’re having opportunity to this please do come out and get your children screened especially.”

Acting Health Permanent Secretary Dr. Jemesa Tudravu states that their goal is to reach as many people at the grassroots level as possible through the new program.

“We want to in our program reach out to the community, build partnerships between the communities and the health service so that interaction is valuable and is effective.”

The Ministry has not yet confirmed the next stop for the expo but Dr. Tudravu encourages the public to take advantage of the service when it reaches their respective division.