Opinion | Congenital Heart Disease: An Urgent Child Health Priority In India

Dr K Ganapathy Subramaniam

CHD is treatable, yet thousands of children still die or live with preventable disability because diagnosis and treatment are delayed or inaccessible.

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Congenital heart disease (CHD) refers to structural abnormalities of the heart or major blood vessels present at birth. It ranges from simple defects that need only observation to complex conditions requiring urgent catheter-based intervention or open-heart surgery.

Advances in paediatric cardiac surgery have transformed CHD from a frequently fatal condition into one in which most children can survive and lead healthy, productive lives. Those outcomes, however, depend on early diagnosis, timely referral, access to specialised cardiac care, and long-term follow-up.

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The World Health Organisation recognises congenital disorders, including congenital heart defects, as an important contributor to neonatal and under-five mortality, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where specialised care remains limited.

Globally, CHD affects about 8–10 per 1,000 live births, or an estimated 1.3–1.5 million newborns each year. Nearly one-quarter of affected children have critical CHD and need intervention in infancy. In India, with nearly 24–27 million live births a year, an estimated 180,000–240,000 children are born with CHD annually.

That........

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