According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease is the world's leading cause of death. An estimated 80% of cardiovascular deaths occur in low- and middle- income countries. The causes for this are many, but one reason is lack of access to pacemakers due to their relatively high cost. Finding new methods of delivering pacing for cardiac patients who cannot afford their pacemaker is critical.
Project My Heart Your Heart (MHYH), established at the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center, is working to bridge the gap between the high- and low- income countries. Our vision was founded in 2009 by Kim Eagle, M.D., Albion Walter Hewlett Professor of Internal Medicine, Professor of Health Management and Policy, and Director, Frankel Cardiovascular Center and former cardiology fellow, Timir S. Baman, M.D., when a patient's husband inquired how to best recycle the device that was explanted. Thomas Crawford, M.D., Clinical Professor of Cardiac Electrophysiology, has been the principal investigator of the randomized trial for 11 years.
Project MHYH was founded to help facilitate the acquisition and delivery of used pacemakers to impoverished populations around the world. Research shows these devices - when cleaned, tested, and sterilized - are effective and pose little to no risk of infection when implanted in needy patients.
Joining us in our humanitarian efforts are local citizens, physicians, funeral directors, Implant Recycling, NE Scientific, and World Medical Relief in Detroit. They are enabling us to make tremendous strides in our work. We have received approval from the Food and Drug Administration and the Institutional Review Board to conduct clinical studies in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, and Venezuela - and we are already implanting reconditioned pacemakers in patients in those countries. We are developing relationships with others hoping to participate. While we are excited to move our studies forward, doing so requires your help. Donate to My Heart Your Heart.