[Correspondence] The Perth Declaration to eliminate rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease

The persistence of rheumatic heart disease reveals how profoundly social inequity can shape who benefits from medical progress. Approximately 55 million people live with the disease, and more than 370 000 die each year.1 It is the most common acquired heart disease in people younger than 25 years, occurring during the years in which these individuals finish their education, form families, and build working lives. Rheumatic heart disease affects women and girls in greater numbers than men and boy