TeNDER successfully completes pre-piloting phase. An Integrated Health Care model for patients with neurodegenerative and cardiovascular conditions
Persons living with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy have increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Integration of services for hypertension, the primary cardiovascular risk factor, into HIV clinics is recommended in Uganda. The investigator´s prior work was demonstrated multiple gaps in implementation of integrated Hypertension care along the HIV treatment cascade. In this study, they sought to explore barriers to and facilitators of integrating Hypertension screening and treatment into HIV clinics in Eastern Uganda.
The initiative strengthened cardiovascular care in primary and secondary settings, providing new training and equipment to providers to establish infrastructure for improved cardiology care outside of specialist settings; a detailed situational analysis informed the initiative’s design and provided evidence supporting the intervention; strong leadership by senior management at Vilnius University Hospital provided technical expertise and generated stakeholder support, while backing from the Ministry of Health added legitimacy to activities; extensive engagement of providers from the beginning was necessary for overcoming an individualistic culture and building collaborative relationships; distribution of a standardized cardiology equipment package to participating locations established basic quality standards and helped enable providers to implement new training.