(Press-News.org) Across Africa about two million premature deaths each year are caused by the effects of diabetes and hypertension.
In contrast, most people living with HIV are in regular care and virally suppressed, and HIV mortality rates have fallen five-fold since their peak of 2 million deaths annually in the early 2000s to less than 500,000 in 2022.
Dr Josephine Birungi, a co-author and Graduate Researcher-Public Health at La Trobe University, said that the similarities in chronic disease management of HIV and other chronic conditions should make integrated clinics beneficial.
“The only difference is the medicine they take. We’re seeing diabetes and hypertension increasing across Africa, causing more deaths than HIV,” Dr Birungi said.
The INTE-Africa study enrolled 7,028 adult patients, 3032 had diabetes alone, hypertension alone or both, and 3365 had HIV alone.
“Retention rates in the integrated care arm were close to 90% which is a historic achievement in primary care across Africa. And, most importantly, integration did not compromise the rates of viral suppression among people living with HIV.”
The average monthly provider cost per participant was lower in the integrated care arm for participants with multiple conditions.
Savings were driven by reduced staffing and overhead costs associated with reduced number of total visits required by patients with multiple morbidities.
Another finding highlighted by the authors was that integrating care did not increase stigma towards HIV-positive patients as was initially feared.
One patient in Uganda said, “I have no problem with it because, we are all sick. Me, I’m very comfortable. You can’t know about the disease unless the person has told you what they are suffering from, we are all sick…”
Dr Meg Doherty, Director of the World Health Organisation Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes said “This was a large ambitious and well-conducted study with the potential to change policy and practice. It is the first study to test successfully the concept of a fully integrated one-stop clinic for people with HIV or non-communicable conditions, with excellent HIV and NCD outcomes. It is exciting to see that by including hypertension and diabetes screening and care into the HIV clinic in these 2 countries, there was no change in HIV viral load suppression outcomes.”
The burden of chronic conditions and multi-morbidity continues to increase in Africa. This study provides a blueprint for re-organising health system to meet demand and to maximise the use of limited resources.
Participating institutions were from Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom and Europe, with the MRC/UVRI/LSHTM Research Unit and The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) as leads in Uganda, the National Institute for Medical Research (NMRI) in Tanzania, and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the University College of London (UCL) Institute for Global Health in United Kingdom.
Across Africa about two million premature deaths each year are caused by the effects of diabetes and hypertension.
In contrast, most people living with HIV are in regular care and virally suppressed, and HIV mortality rates have fallen five-fold since their peak of 2 million deaths annually in the early 2000s to less than 500,000 in 2022.
Dr Josephine Birungi, a co-author and Graduate Researcher-Public Health at La Trobe University, said that the similarities in chronic disease management of HIV and other chronic conditions should make integrated clinics beneficial.
“The only difference is the medicine they take. We’re seeing diabetes and hypertension increasing across Africa, causing more deaths than HIV,” Dr Birungi said.
The INTE-Africa study enrolled 7,028 adult patients, 3032 had diabetes alone, hypertension alone or both, and 3365 had HIV alone.
“Retention rates in the integrated care arm were close to 90% which is a historic achievement in primary care across Africa. And, most importantly, integration did not compromise the rates of viral suppression among people living with HIV.”
The average monthly provider cost per participant was lower in the integrated care arm for participants with multiple conditions.
Savings were driven by reduced staffing and overhead costs associated with reduced number of total visits required by patients with multiple morbidities.
Another finding highlighted by the authors was that integrating care did not increase stigma towards HIV-positive patients as was initially feared.
One patient in Uganda said, “I have no problem with it because, we are all sick. Me, I’m very comfortable. You can’t know about the disease unless the person has told you what they are suffering from, we are all sick…”
Dr Meg Doherty, Director of the World Health Organisation Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes said “This was a large ambitious and well-conducted study with the potential to change policy and practice. It is the first study to test successfully the concept of a fully integrated one-stop clinic for people with HIV or non-communicable conditions, with excellent HIV and NCD outcomes. It is exciting to see that by including hypertension and diabetes screening and care into the HIV clinic in these 2 countries, there was no change in HIV viral load suppression outcomes.”
The burden of chronic conditions and multi-morbidity continues to increase in Africa. This study provides a blueprint for re-organising health system to meet demand and to maximise the use of limited resources.
Participating institutions were from Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom and Europe, with the MRC/UVRI/LSHTM Research Unit and The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) as leads in Uganda, the National Institute for Medical Research (NMRI) in Tanzania, and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the University College of London (UCL) Institute for Global Health in United Kingdom.
END
Integrated chronic care in Africa can improve outcomes and save money
A cost saving option for chronic care in Africa
2023-10-06
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
ObesityWeek® features hundreds of innovative scientific abstracts
2023-10-06
ROCKVILLE, Md.— Neary 240 scientific abstracts covering a variety of topics such as anti-obesity medications, body mass index and pediatric obesity will be featured at the 41st Annual Meeting of The Obesity Society’s (TOS) at ObesityWeek® 2023. This in-person event will take place Oct. 14–17, 2023 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas.
Innovative scientific research results will be presented in both oral and poster formats. These communications provide notable exposure and recognition for studies and authors, and represent cutting-edge research in obesity prevention and ...
Colombian National Cancer Institute signs MOU with BGI Genomics to combat cancer
2023-10-06
On October 2, 2023, BGI Genomics signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Colombian National Cancer Institute (INC or Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia). This collaboration, which aims to foster research and further develop cutting-edge solutions based on genetic sequencing for early diagnosis of cervical and colorectal cancer, reflects a shared dedication to enhancing health outcomes in the region.
The MoU was formally inked at INC facilities by Dr. Carolina Wiesner, INC Director, and Mr. Rainer Perez, alternate legal representative of BGI Genomics in Colombia. Mr. Marco Antonio Rincón, Latin America Business Director, BGI Genomics, notes: ...
Ginger pigment molecules found in fossil frogs
2023-10-06
UCC palaeontologists discover molecular evidence of phaeomelanin, the pigment that produces ginger colouration.
“This will paint a more accurate picture of ancient animal colour.”
Phaeomelanin is now toxic to animals – discovery may be first step in understand its evolution.
Palaeontologists at University College Cork (UCC) have found the first molecular evidence of phaeomelanin, the pigment that produces ginger colouration, in the fossil record.
The new study reports ...
Scientists discover ‘long colds’ may exist, as well as long Covid
2023-10-06
A new study from Queen Mary University of London, published in The Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine, has found that people may experience long-term symptoms —or ‘long colds’—after acute respiratory infections that test negative for COVID-19.
Some of the most common symptoms of the ‘long cold’ included coughing, stomach pain, and diarrhea more than 4 weeks after the initial infection. While the severity of an illness appears to be a key driver of risk of long-term symptoms, ...
Our sense of smell changes the colors we see, show scientists
2023-10-06
Our five senses bombard us with environmental input 24/7. One way our brain makes sense of this abundance of information is by combining information from two or more senses, such as between smells and the smoothness of textures, pitch, color, and musical dimensions. This sensory integration also causes us to associate higher temperatures with warmer colors, lower sound pitches with less elevated positions, and colors with the flavor of particular foods – for example, the taste of oranges with the color of the same name.
Now, a study in Frontiers in Psychology has shown experimentally that such unconscious 'crossmodal' ...
Super-efficient laser light-induced detection of cancer cell-derived nanoparticles
2023-10-06
Osaka, Japan - Can particles as minuscule as viruses be detected accurately within a mere 5 minutes? Osaka Metropolitan University scientists say yes, with their innovative method for ultrafast and ultrasensitive quantitative measurement of biological nanoparticles, opening doors for early diagnosis of a broad range of diseases.
Nanoscale extracellular vesicles (EVs) including exosomes, with diameters of 50–150 nm, play essential roles in intercellular communication and have garnered attention as biomarkers for various diseases and drug delivery capsules. Consequently, the rapid and sensitive detection of nanoscale EVs from trace samples is ...
Fathers’ parental leave might protect men against alcohol-related morbidity
2023-10-06
Men who have been on parental leave have a significantly reduced risk of being hospitalized due to alcohol consumption. This is shown by a study published in Addiction from researchers at the Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University.
The aim of the study was to assess whether fathers’ parental leave influences alcohol-related morbidity and mortality. In order to try to find out if that is the case, the researchers have investigated the effects of parental leave policy that was implemented in Sweden in 1995. The policy encouraged fathers to use parental leave by reserving 30 days of leave for their use alone and resulted in the proportion ...
A 130g soft robot gripper lifts 100kg?
2023-10-06
Utilizing soft, flexible materials such as cloth, paper, and silicone, soft robotic grippers is an essential device that acts like a robot's hand to perform functions such as safely grasping and releasing objects. Unlike conventional rigid material grippers, they are more flexible and safe, and are being researched for household robots that handle fragile objects such as eggs, or for logistics robots that need to carry various types of objects. However, its low load capacity makes it difficult to lift heavy objects, and its poor grasping stability makes it easy to lose the object even under mild external impact.
Dr. ...
USTC researchers revolutionize understanding of supermassive black hole accretion radiation in quasars
2023-10-06
Associate Professor CAI Zhenyi and Professor WANG Junxian from the Department of Astronomy at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), through the study of the optical to extreme ultraviolet radiation generated by the accretion of supermassive black holes at the centers of quasars, have discovered that their spectral energy distribution is independent to the intrinsic brightness of quasars, overturning the traditional ...
Climate change brings earlier arrival of intense hurricanes
2023-10-06
Intense tropical cyclones are one of the most devastating natural disasters in the world due to torrential rains, flooding, destructive winds, and coastal storm surges. New research co-authored by a University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa atmospheric scientist revealed that since the 1980s, Category 4 and 5 hurricanes (maximum wind speed greater than 131 miles per hour) have been arriving three to four days earlier with each passing decade of climate change. Their findings were published recently in Nature.
“When intense tropical cyclones occur earlier than usual, they cause unexpected problems for communities,” said Pao-Shin Chu, atmospheric ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Reality check: making indoor smartphone-based augmented reality work
Overthinking what you said? It’s your ‘lizard brain’ talking to newer, advanced parts of your brain
Black men — including transit workers — are targets for aggression on public transportation, study shows
Troubling spike in severe pregnancy-related complications for all ages in Illinois
Alcohol use identified by UTHealth Houston researchers as most common predictor of escalated cannabis vaping among youths in Texas
Need a landing pad for helicopter parenting? Frame tasks as learning
New MUSC Hollings Cancer Center research shows how Golgi stress affects T-cells' tumor-fighting ability
#16to365: New resources for year-round activism to end gender-based violence and strengthen bodily autonomy for all
Earliest fish-trapping facility in Central America discovered in Maya lowlands
São Paulo to host School on Disordered Systems
New insights into sleep uncover key mechanisms related to cognitive function
USC announces strategic collaboration with Autobahn Labs to accelerate drug discovery
Detroit health professionals urge the community to act and address the dangers of antimicrobial resistance
3D-printing advance mitigates three defects simultaneously for failure-free metal parts
Ancient hot water on Mars points to habitable past: Curtin study
In Patagonia, more snow could protect glaciers from melt — but only if we curb greenhouse gas emissions soon
Simplicity is key to understanding and achieving goals
Caste differentiation in ants
Nutrition that aligns with guidelines during pregnancy may be associated with better infant growth outcomes, NIH study finds
New technology points to unexpected uses for snoRNA
Racial and ethnic variation in survival in early-onset colorectal cancer
Disparities by race and urbanicity in online health care facility reviews
Exploring factors affecting workers' acquisition of exercise habits using machine learning approaches
Nano-patterned copper oxide sensor for ultra-low hydrogen detection
Maintaining bridge safer; Digital sensing-based monitoring system
A novel approach for the composition design of high-entropy fluorite oxides with low thermal conductivity
A groundbreaking new approach to treating chronic abdominal pain
ECOG-ACRIN appoints seven researchers to scientific committee leadership positions
New model of neuronal circuit provides insight on eye movement
Cooking up a breakthrough: Penn engineers refine lipid nanoparticles for better mRNA therapies
[Press-News.org] Integrated chronic care in Africa can improve outcomes and save moneyA cost saving option for chronic care in Africa