WHO-PENatScale; Scaling up the WHO-PEN package for diabetes and hypertension in Swaziland

Background

Diabetes and hypertension have developed into a significant global burden. The number of people with diabetes and high blood pressure is rising particularly in low and middle income countries. With the support of the European Commission, a newly established research consortium in the WHO-PEN@Scale project is pursuing an innovative approach to combat these diseases in eSwatini, Southern Africa.

In Eswatini, the prevalence of diabetes and hypertension is high, but many people are never diagnosed. As in many other African countries, eSwatini provides care only in hospitals, putting pressure on already overburdened facilities. In response, the country has begun to explore ways to treat diabetes and hypertension in primary care.

Aims

To reduce the burden of diabetes and hypertension in Eswatini and the wider sub-Saharan African region and establish the population-level effectiveness and impact of four novel community-based programmes for diabetes and hypertension care in Eswatini.

Project plan

WHO-PENatScale is a a nation-wide cluster-randomised evaluation of three strategies in Swaziland. The project will investigate whether community-based care is acceptable to patients and can be provided by health workers. A part of the project is to support the health workers with a suitable mobile phone application to support patient treatment and information transfer.

Publications and output

You may visit the project website for more information.

Funding organisations

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