Global health leaders have launched the Perth Declaration, a global plan to eliminate rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) as a public health problem by 2040. The declaration was endorsed at the closing ceremony of the Second World Congress on Rheumatic Heart Disease in Perth, Western Australia, on Saturday, the World Heart Federation said.

Source: World Heart Federation

The federation said the world already knows how to prevent, detect and treat RHD — what is missing is delivery: sustained investment, political commitment and a transfer of authority and resources to the communities most affected.

Source: World Heart Federation

What the declaration asks governments to do

The declaration calls on governments and global partners to fund national RHD control programmes with long-term, multi-year investment; invest in housing, water and environmental health to prevent the disease; fund Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health organisations in Australia to design and deliver programmes; secure a reliable supply of benzathine penicillin G; register every person diagnosed and follow them actively; and agree a regulatory pathway for a Strep A vaccine by 2028 and finance phase 3 trials to start by 2031, the World Heart Federation said.

Source: World Heart Federation

Within 12 months, a peer-reviewed technical paper will define the thresholds for elimination. The journal Global Heart published the declaration on Saturday to coincide with the closing ceremony, and its signature roll remains open — ministers, parliamentarians and organisations can endorse it at any time.

Source: World Heart Federation

Australia's own record under scrutiny

In Australia, registers in five states and territories recorded 11,800 people living with RHD and/or a history of acute rheumatic fever in 2024, and four in five were First Nations people, the federation said. The Bush Letter reported the figure as 11,794 people at 31 December 2024 and said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people carry 81 percent of Australia's recorded disease burden, while the country's own elimination roadmap has never received full national funding.

Source: The Bush Letter

World Heart Federation president Professor Jagat Narula said: 'The Perth Declaration marks the most significant global effort to date to eliminate rheumatic heart disease and save hundreds of thousands of lives each year.' Heart Foundation chief scientific and medical officer Professor Derek Chew said: 'This is a disease that shouldn't exist: we know the causes, we know the solutions, we just need commitment and action from world leaders.'

Source: World Heart Federation