Integrated Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus Type II Treatment and Care Among People Living With HIV/AIDS

Overview

This project was a facility-based program intervention for People Living with HIV (PLHIV) aged 18 years and above who attended a Care and Treatment Center (CTC) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Clients received preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services for Hypertension (HTN) and Type Two Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). The primary health outcomes were all-cause mortality, disease-specific morbidity, HTN, and T2DM control rates. Secondary outcomes included access to care, retention in care adherence, and quality of care. Results obtained can be used to strengthen Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) care delivery in HIV/AIDS care in CTC in Tanzania.

A cohort of patients who were diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes was created and followed up for 6 months. Patients were required to attend clinics on a monthly basis. At the first visit short interview using the STEPwise approach of the STEPS surveillance tool for NCDs from the World Health Organization (WHO) was conducted. On subsequent visits, hypertension and blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels will be measured and adherence to medication were assessed. The patient registry was developed following recommendations from the HEARTS (Healthy lifestyle, Evidence-based protocols, Access to essential medicines and technology, Risk-based Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) management, Team-based care Guidance Systems for monitoring)technical package of WHO with some modifications if needed. A simple surveillance system was developed for all patients diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes so that there is continuous evaluation and monitoring of all patients attending NCDs care at the HIV clinic.

Conditions