The END RHD CRE: Developing an end game for rheumatic heart disease in Australia

Prof Jonathan Carapetis (CIA), Professor Bart Currie (CIB), Professor Graeme Maguire (CIC), Professor Dawn Bessarab (CID), Dr Dan McAullay (CIE), Ms Heather D’Antoine (CIF), Professor Alex Brown (CIG), Dr Anna Ralph (CIH), Associate Professor Andrew Steer (CII), Professor Nicholas de Klerk (CIJ), Associate Professor Vicki Krause (AIA), Professor David Atkinson (AIB), Dr Gavin Wheaton (AIC), Dr Thomas Snelling (AID), Dr Anna Ralph (AIE), Dr Stephanie Trust (AIF), Ms Claire Boardman (AIG), Dr Rosemary Wyber (AIH), Dr Samantha Colquhoun (AII), Professor Christopher Reid (AIJ)

The END RHD CRE is a five year Centre of Research Excellence funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council Australia in 2014. The END RHD CRE brings together 20 investigators from 16 institutions to develop a strategy for how Australia can eliminate RHD as a public health problem (the “endgame report”). At the end of 5 years, the END RHD CRE will provide a stepwise roadmap to ending RHD in Australia and aim to produce a clear vision for achieving measurable disease control targets. The END RHD CRE will undertake a number of projects across several disciplines of research including epidemiology, biomedical sciences; implementation and translation; and understanding the RHD community with a special focus on documenting the experiences of those living with the disease.

Plain language summary: In Australia, RHD is essentially a disease of the past for all but Indigenous populations and some groups living in poverty. The END RHD CRE provides an opportunity to build a comprehensive, evidence based strategy for ending RHD and represents an untold opportunity to tackle the disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. We will undertake a number of projects across several disciplines of research with a special focus on documenting the experiences of those living with RHD. At the end of 5 years, the END RHD CRE will provide a roadmap to end RHD in Australia.

Funder: NHMRC

External collaborators: Menzies, RHD Australia, Baker IDI, UWA, SAHMRI, MCRI, University of Melbourne, KAMS, NT CDC, Women’s and Children’s Hospital Adelaide, Monash University