Setting-up nurse-led pilot clinics for the management of non-communicable diseases at primary health care level in resource-limited settings of Africa

Autor: Jean-Claude Mbanya, Sylvestre Dongmo, Paschal Kum Awah, Leopold Fezeu, Eugene Sobngwi, Andre Pascal Kengne, The CENHIP Investigators
Jazyk: English<br />French
Rok vydání: 2009
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Pan African Medical Journal, Vol 3, Iss 10 (2009)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1937-8688
Popis: BACKGROUND: This article describes the setting-up process for nurse-led pilot clinics for the management of four chronic diseases: asthma, type 2 diabetes mellitus, epilepsy and hypertension at the primary health care level in urban and rural Cameroon. METHODS: The Biyem-Assi urban and the Bafut rural health districts in Cameroon served as settings for this study. International and local guidelines were identified and adapted to the country's; circumstances. Training and follow-up tools were developed and nurses trained by experienced physicians in the management of the four conditions. Basic diagnostic and follow-up materials were provided and relevant essential drugs made available. RESULTS: Forty six nurses attended six training courses. By the second year of activity, three and four clinics were operational in the urban and the rural areas respectively. By then, 925 patients had been registered in the clinics. This represented a 68.5% increase from the first year. While the rural clinics relied mainly on essential drugs for their prescriptions, a prescription pattern combining generic and proprietary drugs was observed in the urban clinics. CONCLUSION: In the quest for cost-effective health care for NCD in sub-Saharan Africa, rethinking health workforce and service delivery has relevance. Nurse-led clinics, algorithm driven service delivery stands as alternatives to overcome the shortage of trained physicians and other issues relating to access to care.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals