Control of Blood Pressure and Risk Attenuation-rural Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Feasibility Study

Overview

High blood pressure (BP) is the leading attributable risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In rural South Asia, hypertension remains to be a significant public health issue with sub-optimal rates of case finding and management. A trial to investigate integrated primary care strategies to control hypertension is planned. Packaged interventions for the planned full-scale study are varying combinations of 1) home health education (HHE) by trained community health workers (CHW), 2) trained government primary health centre mid-level providers (MLP) led care and 3) trained private practitioners. The goal of the full-scale study is to test which combination of the above interventions is the most effective in lowering blood pressure among adults with hypertension in rural communities. In addition, the full-scale study aims to quantify the incremental cost- effectiveness of each approach in terms of cost per projected cardiovascular disease (CVD) disability adjusted life-years (DALYs) averted.

The rationale for conducting the feasibility study in 3 proposed South Asian countries is strong. The South Asian countries are in a unique stage of epidemiological transition with a double burden of communicable and NCDs, the latter increasing rapidly. (2) These countries also share cultural habits and social structure with an extended family system, and have largely similar population characteristics and health seeking behaviours. (10)Moreover, the rural health system in all South Asian countries relies on cadres community health workers. At the same time there are some differences. Bangladesh and Pakistan have a high proportion of people living in extreme poverty (purchasing power parity \<US $1.25/day, 49.6% and 22.6%, respectively) compared to Sri Lanka (14%) which has relatively better development indicators in terms of life expectancy and literacy rates (World Bank 2010). However age-standardized death rates from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are uniformly high in all 3 countries. The feasibility will allow direct comparison of some of these population (individual) and health systems characteristics among countries relevant for hypertension care. Thus, data from the feasibility will inform the future design of the trial. In order to optimize the trial design of the full study, a mixed-methods feasibility study with quasi-experimental pre- and post- evaluation of "triple approach" with all 3 components of intervention, survey of pharmacies, and focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews to better inform the strategies for the full-scale trial in rural settings in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.