CHILDREN and YOU

A big welcome to everyone who arrives here on purpose or by chance.

During the next 10 days we are going to learn about Congenital Heart Defects and a very special person who is not only educating the world about this condition but is doing something about it on a daily basis.

Contrary to popular belief and a large amount of research, there is no known cause for Congenital Heart Defects. Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are a lethal constellation of birth defects of the heart that affect millions of newborn infants and children worldwide; a killer that claims thousands of lives every year. Eight of every 1000 children born alive (0.8%) will have some form of congenital heart defect.

Each day I am going to summarize a post from www.chdinfo.com to help in the fight to raise awareness and raise funds for those suffering from Congenital Heart Defects.

Exactly what is Congenital Heart Disease you might ask. This chilling phrase refers to a plethora of birth defects of the heart that affects millions of infants and children each year. This killer claims thousands of young lives every year.

Only those fortunate enough to live in well developed countries are able to find treatment…not even necessarily a cure but at least their quality of life will be much improved. Those living in the poorer areas and countries of this world are forced to live within the limitations of their disease with no chance of becoming productive people within their communities.

There are 2 main types of heart disease. The one we all have heard of and know the causes of is Acquired Heart Disease due to poor choices in diet and lifestyle that catches up to us as we age and continue to overindulge. It can be prevented by eating and exercising properly for one’s lifetime. More and more people are making wise choices and the incidence of death by this type of heart disease is decreasing.

But in the case of CHD it appears randomly with no known cause all across the world affecting approximately .08% of births. Throughout time it has remained the same and even though other heart diseases are on their way out as people learn how to take better care of their health, CHD is actually becoming a growing problem. In fact at the rate it is going CHD will be the number 1 heart problem in the next 20 years.

Even though surgery for heart defects became a specialty back in the late 1980’s, these operations only account for 5% of all heart surgeries worldwide. Also there are only a few centers that are dedicated to heart defect surgery. The costs of these surgeries are expensive and often ongoing. As a result many go untreated.

With the proper surgery those afflicted with CHD can go on to live a normal lifespan albeit fraught with some complications in lifestyle that we take for granted…the inability to obtain good life insurance, possible employment restrictions, marriage and children not always a possibility due to later life complications.

With so much spent and the focus continuing on adult heart disease, it is difficult to find the funds needed to research CHD and gain control of this life-threatening disease. We all need to become more aware of this and act upon it.

.Technorati Tags:
CHD, Dr. Mani, congenital heart defects