Leveraging community-to-facility service provision to implement the World Health Organization HEARTS-D guidelines in Bangladesh for improving diabetes control and prevention.

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R01 · $626,609 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY Type-2 diabetes (T2D) is rising at an alarming rate in most of low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). This rapid increase in the T2D burden has a particular impact on cities, where more than half the LMIC populations currently live and where 3 out of 4 people with T2D reside. In response to this growing global challenge, the World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized (a) the need for an equitable and sustained improvement in the detection, treatment, and control of T2D, and (b) a rapid implementation of the WHO’s evidence-based HEARTS-D module, which aims to improve service delivery for T2D in primary care facilities. However, currently, in most LMICs (such as Bangladesh), effective adoption of the WHO HEARTS-D module into routine urban primary care has been limited owing to substantial implementation barriers. These include suboptimal delivery mechanisms, poor uptake, weak monitoring system, and inadequate capacities. To address this, we will evaluate a community-to-facility integrated strategy to implement WHO HEARTS-D module in the existing urban service delivery system in Bangladesh. First, we will develop and optimize a community-to-facility integrated strategy for adopting the WHO HEARTS-D module using Implementation Mapping (IM). Guided by the IM approach, we will conduct mixed methods assessments to: (a) identify contextual factors, and (b) assess the implementation behavior of providers that may influence T2D care in cities. We will then develop and optimize a suitable implementation strategy that can achieve high coverage, access and utilization of T2D care, specifically for urban poor populations, through iterative cycles of mixed methods qualitative assessments, implementation, and outcome measurements. For this aim, trained study staff will select ~45 key stakeholders, primary care providers and CHWs as participants, based in 3 wards in Sylhet city of Bangladesh. Second, we will evaluate the impacts of the optimized community-to-facility integrated strategy on implementation outcomes. We will conduct a 2-arm, type 2, hybrid implementation-effectiveness randomized trial. The study will involve a total of 20 municipal wards as clusters from Sylhet city (10 in each arm). This cluster randomized trial will compare the following strategies: (a) a community-to-facility integrated strategy for implementing the WHO HEARTS-D module and (b) a facility- only service delivery strategy (without a community component). We will evaluate the implementation process by defining relevant outcomes based on the RE-AIM framework components: reach, effectiveness, implementation, and maintenance. Third, we will compare the effectiveness of this integrated strategy on T2D status. Based on a study sample of 5,000 randomly selected participants, we will aim to compare improvements in the prevalence of controlled T2D status, treatment uptake and adherence to glucose-lowering therapy, T2D complications and awareness among participants in bo...

Key facts

NIH application ID
10946211
Project number
1R01HL175636-01
Recipient
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator
Rajiv Chowdhury
Activity code
R01
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2024
Award amount
$626,609
Award type
1
Project period
2024-09-01 → 2029-07-31