TY  - EJOU
AU  - Vervoort, Dominique 
AU  - Deng, Mimi X. 
AU  - Izumi, Aliya 
AU  - Kutty, Shelby 
AU  - Edwin, Frank 

TI  - Unmet Needs in Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery: A Review
T2  - Structural and Congenital Heart Disease

PY  - 2024
VL  - 19
IS  - 5
SN  - 3071-1738

AB  - 
Pediatric and congenital heart disease (PCHD) affects millions of children worldwide, including over one million babies born with congenital heart disease (CHD) each year and 300,000 children dying from rheumatic heart disease (RHD) yearly. Although the vast majority of children born with CHD in high-income countries now reach adulthood and RHD is nearly eradicated in these countries, most of the world cannot access the necessary care to prevent or mitigate PCHD. In low- and middle-income countries, over 90% of children with PCHD cannot receive the care they need, as over 100 countries and territories lack local cardiac surgical capacity. The unmet needs for PCHD are large, albeit still poorly quantified, resulting in a considerable socioeconomic impact at the individual and societal levels. This review highlights the extensive opportunities to improve access to and scale PCHD care by strengthening research, clinical care delivery, capacity-building, advocacy, health policy, and financing. We discuss global disparities in access to congenital heart surgery, the socioeconomic impact of untreated PCHD, and propose strategies for scaling pediatric and congenital cardiac care. Our recommendations focus on enhancing research and data collection, expanding training programs, improving healthcare infrastructure, advocating for policy changes, leveraging technological innovations, fostering international collaborations, and developing comprehensive care models.
KW  - Congenital heart surgery; congenital heart disease; global cardiac surgery; global surgery; global health

DO  - 10.32604/chd.2024.057749