Understanding Congenital Heart Disease: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

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Congenital heart defects refer to defects in the heart that children are born with. These are one of the most common congenital defects globally. In India too, 200,000+ children are born with a congenital heart defect (CHD). These are the numbers of the cases that are recorded – there maybe many more which go undiagnosed and hence untreated. Only 25 per cent of the children diagnosed with a congenital heart defect are able to get the required treatment. A lack of awareness and access to resources are the biggest challenges in children getting timely treatment. Organisations like Genesis Foundation, a congenital heart foundation India has been taking steps to both build awareness and provide financial treatment to those who cannot afford the cost of treatment. The treatment for CHD is expensive and families that do not earn enough to meet their daily needs have to depend on funds they receive as a congenital heart disease donation to support the treatment. Symptoms of Congenital Heart
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Reaching Out to Those in Need – What You Can Do To Help a Family With a Child who has a Congenital Heart Defect.

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There are times in our lives, when we seem to have settled down professionally and personally and we think of helping others in some way or the other. At other times there are occasions in our families, milestones, like birthdays or anniversaries where we feel like helping someone who has not been as fortunate as us and look for areas where we can provide support.

Donation for children is one area that immediately comes to the forefront during such times. Many underprivileged children in countries like India, continue to fight many challenges in multiple areas such as education, health, nutrition, growth and development. Many children in particular, face challenges in accessing essential life saving interventions which can help save their lives. 

Congenital heart defects is one such area where many children continue to be deprived of access to important interventions only because their families did not have the money 

to support the treatment. Congenital heart defects are one of the leading birth defects. This means that children are born with a defect in their heart which impacts the way it functions and hence the way the child may grow


and develop. 25% of all children born with a congenital heart defect have a critical defect implying that they need to be treated within the first year of their life to be able to survive. In developing countries, pediatric cardiac care centers are not many and those that are there are not evenly distributed. Most of these centers are in the private sector where the cost of treatment of a heart defect is extremely high. The government hospitals also provide facilities but very often there is a long waiting involved very often leading to adverse consequences for the child and sometimes even death. It is here that donation for heart surgery assumes critical importance. 

In addition to donation for heart surgery, there are many ways that we can reach out to children who are born with a heart defect: 

1) Help the family connect to a hospital: as a first step it is good to see if the family of the child has connected with a good hospital that has the facilities to help the child. One can speak with the hospital team to understand what kind of support is needed for the child and whether or not the hospital can provide that. 

2) Connect the family to a Foundation or NGO working with children who have a heart defect. These NGOs help raise donations for heart surgery and can help support the treatment for the child.  

3) Check with the family to see if they understand what is the defect, what is the treatment process and what all is required during the treatment and post the treatment 

4) Remain in touch with the family and encourage them to remain in touch with the concerned doctor’s team and follow all advice.

5) Speak to friends and family to see if they are interested in providing donation for children who are born with a heart defect. They could donate toys, stationary, and other things that the child can use. 


 

6) Volunteer to visit the child and play with the child post the surgery to help the child feel better.

7) Start a fundraiser: one can also help the family by starting a fundraiser to help with the donation for heart surgery. 

 

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