Cardiac surgery for patients with heart failure due to structural heart disease in Uganda: access to surgery and outcomes.

Objective: Few data are available on heart failure (HF) in sub-Saharan Africa. We aimed to provide a current picture of HF aetiologies in urban Uganda, access to heart surgery, and outcomes.

Methods: We prospectively collected clinical and echocardiographic data from 272 consecutive patients referred for suspected heart disease to a tertiary hospital in Kampala during seven non-governmental organisation (NGO) missions from 2009 to 2013.

The cause of endomyocardial fibrosis in Uganda.

The cause of endomyocardial fibrosis in Uganda remains unknown in spite of studies dating back to 1948. Herbal decoctions have been used by traditional healers for countless generations to treat many complaints, especially fever. We present evidence - ethnic, geographical, tribal, pathological and distribution by age - that the toxic herbal decoctions taken as medicines in Uganda can cause endomyocardial fibrosis.