Key result
The Communities for Healthy Hearts program increased hypertension awareness among affected individuals from 46.9% to 63.6% and expanded the availability of screening and management services.
Why the study?
Hypertension accounts for 21% of mortality in Vietnam, but the national health system is under-resourced to meet population needs for prevention and care.
Observational (n=121,273)
Yes
Absolute Event Rate: 63.6% vs 46.9%
The Communities for Healthy Hearts program successfully strengthened local health systems in Vietnam by expanding community-based hypertension screening and improving patient awareness.
Community screening may boost hypertension awareness in Vietnam; leaves open scalability and effects on control or outcomes.
Background: Hypertension leads to an estimate of 91,000 deaths yearly, accounting for 21% of total mortality in Vietnam. However, the national health system is under-resourced to meet the population's needs for hypertension prevention and care. The Communities for Healthy Hearts program (the Program) introduced an innovative health service delivery model to address hypertension in underserved communities in 4 districts of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). This study evaluated a 3-year implementation of this program (2016-2019) on the strengthening of local health system and its capacity to better prevent and manage hypertension. Methods: A mixed approach of quantitative and qualitative studies was applied. The WHO's health systems building blocks framework was employed to assess impact of the Program on the local health system. Results: Findings revealed that the Program developed a hypertension-ready system supported by enabling factors that are aligned with the WHO's building blocks. These were: increased availability of preventive and treatment services for hypertension; improved capacity of healthcare staff through trainings; effective communication materials, available technical guidelines; provision of stipends for collaborators; establishment of a collaborators network and blood pressure checkpoints with a strong collaboration among stakeholders. However, there was room for improvement and the Program provides a few lessons learned regarding planning in personnel changes and recruitment, efficacy of capacity building via training sessions, sustainability of financing, and completeness of patient information management. Conclusion: Given national objectives in Vietnam to strengthen primary care and address the rising tide of NCDs, The Communities for Healthy Hearts program provided a promising approach to strengthen HCMC's health system and extend coverage of community-based approaches to improve prevention and control of hypertension. This model provides several approaches and lessons learned that can support health providers and policy makers in their efforts to strengthen national health programs in Vietnam to address NCDs.
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Trần et al. (2020) conducted an observational in Hypertension (n=121,273). Communities for Healthy Hearts program vs. Pre-intervention (2015/2016) was evaluated on Hypertension awareness among people with hypertension. The Communities for Healthy Hearts program increased hypertension awareness among affected individuals from 46.9% to 63.6% and expanded the availability of screening and management services.
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