One of the major project areas VNHIP works with is funding for cardiac surgery for people with heart disease. While some of these issues are congenital, for many its untreated Streptococcal throat infections and resultant undiagnosed Rheumatic Fever that leads to valve problems developing.
As there is no childhood screening for such issues in Viet Nam, mostly these heart problems are picked up as fatigue develops, and sadly often at the most productive times in peoples lives. What is most heartbreaking is that sometimes the delay in seeking treatment for financial or other reasons means that pulmonary hypertension is so severe and irreversible that surgery is no longer an option. Primary pulmonary hypertension occurs where there is too high a blood pressure in the blood vessels that supply your lungs from your heart.
Sildenafil is a vital and life preserving medication for some of these clients as it relaxes the muscle cells in the walls of the blood vessels to the lungs, allowing them to become wider (dilated). This reduces the pressure in these blood vessels and allows blood to flow more easily through them. In turn, this increases the supply of blood to their lungs and reduces the strain on their heart.
This is the sad case for three of our long term patients, all from poor families. Each young woman has not yet completed her studies which would enable them to become financially independent. Until they gain qualifications that would enable them to gain secure employment, their lack of income and the costs of their medication add to their families burden of poverty.
As there is no childhood screening for such issues in Viet Nam, mostly these heart problems are picked up as fatigue develops, and sadly often at the most productive times in peoples lives. What is most heartbreaking is that sometimes the delay in seeking treatment for financial or other reasons means that pulmonary hypertension is so severe and irreversible that surgery is no longer an option. Primary pulmonary hypertension occurs where there is too high a blood pressure in the blood vessels that supply your lungs from your heart.
Sildenafil is a vital and life preserving medication for some of these clients as it relaxes the muscle cells in the walls of the blood vessels to the lungs, allowing them to become wider (dilated). This reduces the pressure in these blood vessels and allows blood to flow more easily through them. In turn, this increases the supply of blood to their lungs and reduces the strain on their heart.
This is the sad case for three of our long term patients, all from poor families. Each young woman has not yet completed her studies which would enable them to become financially independent. Until they gain qualifications that would enable them to gain secure employment, their lack of income and the costs of their medication add to their families burden of poverty.
Huynh Thi Hien
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Trinh Thi Tha
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Nguyen Huyen Dieu
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