An Invitation to the Medical Students of the World to Join The Global Coalition to Improve Care for Children and Adults with Congenital Heart Disease Across the World

Medical schools teach their students about anatomy, histology, cell biology, genetics, embryology, physiology, biochemistry, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and other subdivisions of the medical knowledge and know-how. Despite acquiring this complex science and having the opportunity to interact with patients in the clinical setting, very rarely do medical students gather a global understanding of what impact a disease represents on a personal, societal and global level. Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a condition that is present in approximately 1 in 100 births, has a remarkable heterogeneity and complexity and has a significant impact on the child’s survival and quality of life if left untreated. Even when the initial congenital defect is successfully repaired, patients with CHD require a lifelong follow-up and the possibility of subsequent reinterventions. Physicians are involved from the beginning to the end with the diagnosis, counselling, every step of the treatment and the lifelong follow-up. The treatment of CHD requires an enormous effort, resources and the participation of a huge team made up of a multitude of highly trained medical specialists, such as cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, cardiac anaesthetists, cardiac intensivists and many others, who often have dedicated their entire professional lives to this exciting field of medicine. Far from claiming to be a thorough and exhaustive expose on CHD, this article rather aims to present to medical students from everywhere in the world an overview of the nature of this important disease and of its global impact. We will provide a definition of CHD, highlight a few examples, give a summary of its epidemiology, and finally summarize the history of the study and treatment modalities. Our focus will also be on the inequalities in the treatment of CHD between the western world and developing nations. Finally, the challenges that must be addressed to truly improve care around the world will be presented.