Families and grassroots healthcare service providers have been urged to pay attention to signs of heart diseases among children in order to provide the necessary treatment.
Experts say a number of children who suffer from heart diseases in Rwanda delay getting proper care because families are ignorant about the signs.
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Speaking during World Heart Day celebrations on Saturday October 30 in Bugesera district, Dr Joseph Mucumbitsi, the Chief Consultant Pediatrician and Cardiologist at King Faisal Hospital, said there is need for sensitisation so that families get to know the symptoms to look out for in case a child has heart issues.
"For example, a child born with a heart problem can showcase symptoms like breathing challenges and slow growth. Parents should pay attention to such symptoms, but also medics at local health centers should always consider these symptoms among children,” he noted.
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He said there have been scenarios where children were treated for malnutrition in communities, and it turned out they were rather suffering from heart issues.
In 2022, a study by Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) showed that heart diseases are responsible for some stunting cases in Rwanda which means that malnutrition is not the only cause for stunting.
The survey found that five per cent of stunted children were born with heart defects, which were the main cause of their retarded growth.
According to official figures at least 33 per cent of children in Rwanda were stunted in 2020.
"We need to test; we need to know our status. We need to sensitise people, starting this among children so that all grow up knowing how to prevent heart problems and NCDs.
Such diseases have common risk factors including being overweight, taking a lot of alcohol and a lot of salt, not doing enough exercise, eating unhealthy foods,” Mucumbitis noted.
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"In the family, parents should play a role of showing their children that it is not good to eat a lot of salt, that they should do physical exercise, should avoid smoking so that they will not suffer from such diseases,” he added.
Christiane Mwamikazi, a nurse working with Team Heart, a team of medics which does heart surgeries in Rwanda, said some of the common conditions they deal with are valve problems.
She thinks some of these problems start when people are young but don’t get proper treatment.
"I request that there is sensitisation to discourage people from using local medicine when children suffer from breathing problems,” she said, as she asked parents to always seek professional medical services.
Dr. Francois Uwinkindi, the head of the NCDs division at Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) called upon people to test for heart issues early, and get early treatment "because the services are available.”