The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) and three other partners have developed a community health engagement model that encourages individuals, especially those living with chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, to take control of their own health.

Known as the chronic care model, patients who go to health facilities are expected to be taught things such as how to measure their own blood pressure and sugar levels at home, so that they can monitor them at home while waiting for the next review date.

Similarly, community members, leaders and support systems are also engaged under this model to provide support to improve health.

The model was piloted in communities in and around the KBTH, and when it was compared to the current routine care that existed, the result was that there was a tangible reduction in the condition of the patients with regard to their blood pressure, sugar and other monitoring tests and elements.

The results also showed that patients were motivated to continue doing things right to get the optimum care that they deserved.

Participants

At a dissemination event and launch of the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology Review Series hosted by the National Investment Bank (NIB) PLC in Accra yesterday, the Provost of the College of Health Sciences of the University of Ghana, Professor Alfred  Edwin Yawson, called for the adoption of the model into the country’s health system.

The model was developed through the CREATE programme, which stands for Global Health Research Group on collaborative care for cardiometabolic diseases in Africa.

The CREATE programme was a £2.3 million National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), funded by the Global Health Research Programme and delivered through a partnership between the KBTH, University of Leicester, University of Kenya and Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique.

It focuses on strengthening collaborative, equitable and scalable models of care for cardiometabolic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension with direct relevance to health systems, communities and policy across the region.

Prof. Yawson said countries such as Mozambique and Kenya had adopted the chronic care model and were at different stages of using it to improve the health of their citizens.

Model

He said what the model sought to achieve was to prevent as many people as possible from developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), but when they got it, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) had been strengthened to take care of the basic curative component of those conditions.

Again, he said, instead of putting all high-risk burden onto the NHIS, another model, such as the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, otherwise known as Mahamacares, could take care of those whose conditions had developed complications.

The Managing Director of NIB PLC, Chief Dr Doliwura Zakaria, said the bank recognised that sustainable economic transformation could not be achieved without strong human capital, adding that the bank remained committed to playing its part in supporting initiatives that would enhance national resilience, improve livelihoods and drive sustainable growth.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KBTH, Dr Yakubu Seidu Adam, called on corporate Ghana to open its doors and provide the much-needed support and funding for impactful research initiatives that had the potential to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality, especially among the youth.

Other speakers at the event were the Administrator of MahamaCares, Ghana, Obuobia Darko-Opoku, and the Technical Officer for NCDs at WHO Ghana, Dr Pascal Mwin.