Shuwana: seven years from the first signs to surgery

Shuwana's mother comes from Kiberege in Ifakara, Kilombero District, about 227 km by road from Morogoro town. She gave birth to Shuwana in Mbeya, at Meta Maternal Hospital, in 2013.

As Shuwana grew, her mother noticed that her breathing was not normal, especially in her sleep. Shuwana also had eye problems, and she had an eye operation at CCBRT hospital. There the family was advised to go to Muhimbili about her breathing. They were not able to go, and Shuwana continued to have chest problems, severe breathing difficulty and frequent pneumonia.

When she was four her condition became severe. Her mother was told she had serious lung problems, and Shuwana needed to attend a clinic every day. Fortunately she was also checked for heart defects, and when she was five, nearly six, a hole in her heart was found.

Her mother was told to prepare almost TZS 800,000 and travel to Muhimbili for further consultation. She was pregnant at the time and could not make the journey.

At Ifakara hospital her mother learned about The One New Heart Tanzania heart treatment mission at Benjamin Mkapa Hospital in Dodoma, and was told to be there on 5 July 2021. She went.

Shuwana had her surgery on 14 July 2021, at the age of eight, on the same day as three other children.

It took almost seven years from Shuwana's first symptoms to her diagnosis and treatment. Making early heart diagnosis available to every Tanzanian child, so that treatment comes sooner, is the reason we run screening camps.