Kampala, Uganda |The Independent| A study by scientists at the Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) has found that up to forty eight percent of children with congenital heart disease are diagnosed late, something that affects treatment outcomes.
Each year, sixteen thousand babies are estimated to be born with heart defects in Uganda, and according to results shared at an ongoing Research Dissemination Conference 2025, it takes an average of six months for a baby to be fully diagnosed.
Dr Gloria Owomugisha, a Pediatric Cardiology Fellow who led the study team, reveals that they assessed four hundred and forty children receiving care at the institute, and almost half of them were diagnosed late, with some attributing the delay to seeking alternative treatment, such as herbal medicine.
The researchers also assessed the mothers’ level of education and the type of facility where the babies were born, and the majority of the delays were among mothers of low educational status and those delivering in the government-run public health centres.
Owomugisha said while Uganda is still experiencing immense delays, which in the end affect treatment outcomes, in developed countries, only one in ten children are diagnosed late since their fetal diagnosis tests are commonly available for a mother to know even before the baby is born.
Commenting about these findings, Dr John Omagino the Institute’s Executive Director said diagnosing a baby can be done weeks or days after birth but many health workers skip this important test before discharging mothers.
Saying that awareness is the biggest challenge affecting early diagnosis, Omagino added that the discrepancies they register in the people seeking care at the institute speak of the fact that many Ugandans are stuck with heart disease in the communities, since the incidence of such diseases is the same all over the country.
While some of these heart problems require complex and sometimes multiple surgeries, Omagino says some resolve on their own, yet others require simple interventions which, when offered early, can save sufferers and their caregivers the economic and social burdens of accessing care.
He says this research is only offering policymakers and healthcare managers answers on where investment should be directed, calling for the decentralisation of specialised cardiac services.
Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng said the plan is to have regional heart centres at the regional referral hospitals, which will cut down the big numbers that are sent to the center.
Source: The Independent
