Awareness, Education, and Advocacy

Abstract Knowledge of group A streptococcal infections, acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease is essential in order for people to seek medical care and for integration in health policy. However, awareness of these conditions is low in many settings and opportunities to seek care may be missed. Education and awareness campaigns for different audiences may be effective in increasing knowledge. Examples of different community education programs are presented. Increasing community knowledge can also provide a basis for advocacy to engage policy makers in addressing rheumatic heart disease. A structure to advocacy is presented and illustrative successes presented in this chapter.