Rapidly adapted community health strategies to prevent treatment interruption and improve COVID-19 detection for Syrian refugees and the host population with hypertension and diabetes in Jordan.

BACKGROUND: We evaluated community health volunteer (CHV) strategies to prevent non-communicable disease (NCD) care disruption and promote coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) detection among Syrian refugees and vulnerable Jordanians, as the pandemic started. METHODS: Alongside medication delivery, CHVs called patients monthly to assess stockouts and adherence, provide self-management and psychosocial support, and screen and refer for complications and COVID-19 testing. Cohort analysis was undertaken of stockouts, adherence, complications and suspected COVID-19. Multivariable models of disease control assessed predictors and non-inferiority of the strategy pre-/post-initiation. Cost-efficiency and patient/staff interviews assessed implementation. RESULTS: Overall, 1119 patients were monitored over 8 mo. The mean monthly proportion of stockouts was 4.9%. The monthly proportion non-adherent (past 5/30 d) remained below 5%; 204 (18.1%) patients had complications, with 63 requiring secondary care. Mean systolic blood pressure and random blood glucose remained stable. For hypertensive disease control, age 41-65 y (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.2 to 0.78) and with diabetes (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.54 to 0.98) had decreased odds, and with baseline control had increased odds (OR 3.08, 95% CI 2.31 to 4.13). Cumulative suspected COVID-19 incidence (2.3/1000 population) was suggestive of ongoing transmission. While cost-efficient (108 US${\$}$/patient/year), funding secondary care was challenging. CONCLUSIONS: During multiple crises, CHVs prevented care disruption and reinforced COVID-19 detection.

Adaptation of care for non-communicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic: a global case study.

People living with non-communicable diseases (PLWNCDs) are at greater risk of severe COVID-19 illness. This case study highlights the adaptations that were made to humanitarian health programmes in five countries to reduce exposure risk for PLWNCDs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Common adaptations included facility-level administrative and engineering controls, improved triaging, change in prescribing practices, decrease in frequency of stable patient visits, shift to remote consultations and expanded scope of responsibility for existing community health workers. Despite fears of the impact on health service utilisation, PLWNCDs continued to seek services and changes in utilisation rates between the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods were attributed more to factors like population changes, COVID-19 travel restrictions, closure of other health services, and enhanced health education and community engagement. This study highlights the resilience and creativity of frontline health staff and managers, and their ability to make quick shifts in service delivery modalities in response to changes in risk for client groups in accordance with the evolving contextual reality. Other contextual changes such as infectious disease outbreaks, conflicts and natural disasters happen regularly within humanitarian settings, and specific groups are often more at risk. With more specific information about risks for different client groups, targeted approaches can be done to ensure that those most at risk of a specific threat are able to ensure access to sustained services.

Integrating community health volunteers into non-communicable disease management among Syrian refugees in Jordan: a causal loop analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Globally, there is emerging evidence on the use of community health workers and volunteers in low-income and middle-income settings for the management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), provision of out-of-clinic screening, linkage with health services, promotion of adherence, and counselling on lifestyle and dietary changes. Little guidance exists on the role of this workforce in supporting NCD care for refugees who lack access to continuous care in their host country. The goals of this work were to evaluate the current roles of community health volunteers (CHVs) in the management of diabetes and hypertension (HTN) among Syrian refugees and to suggest improvements to the current primary care model using community health strategies. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A participatory, multistakeholder causal loop analysis workshop with representatives from the Ministry of Health of Jordan, non-governmental organisations, United Nations agencies, CHVs and refugee patients was conducted in June 2019 in Amman, Jordan. PRIMARY OUTCOME: This causal loop analysis workshop was used to collaboratively develop a causal loop diagram and CHV strategies designed to improve the health of Syrian refugees with diabetes and HTN living in Jordan. RESULTS: During the causal loop analysis workshop, participants collaboratively identified and mapped how CHVs might improve care among diagnosed patients. Possibilities identified included the following: providing psychosocial support and foundational education on their conditions, strengthening self-management of complications (eg, foot checks), and monitoring patients for adherence to medications and collection of basic health monitoring data. Elderly refugees with restricted mobility and/or uncontrolled disease were identified as a key population where CHVs could provide home-based blood glucose and blood pressure measurement and targeted health education to provide more precise monitoring. CONCLUSIONS: CHV programmes were cited as a key strategy to implement secondary prevention of morbidity and mortality among Syrian refugees, particularly those at high risk of decompensation.

Access to Care and Prevalence of Hypertension and Diabetes Among Syrian Refugees in Northern Jordan.

Importance: The management of noncommunicable diseases in humanitarian crises has been slow to progress from episodic care. Understanding disease burden and access to care among crisis-affected populations can inform more comprehensive management. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes with biological measures and to evaluate access to care among Syrian refugees in northern Jordan. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study was undertaken from March 25 to April 26, 2019, in the districts of Ramtha and Mafraq, Jordan. Seventy clusters of 15 households were randomly sampled, and chain referral was used to sample Syrian households, representative of 59 617 Syrian refugees. Adults were screened and interviewed about their access to care. Data analysis was performed from May to September 2019. Exposures: Primary care delivered through a humanitarian organization since 2012. Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcomes were self-reported prevalence of hypertension and diabetes among adults aged 18 years or older and biologically based prevalence among adults aged 30 years or older. The secondary outcome was access to care during the past month among adults aged 18 years or older with a diagnosis of hypertension or diabetes. Results: In 1022 randomly sampled households, 2798 adults aged 18 years or older, including 275 with self-reported diagnoses (mean [SD] age, 56.5 [13.2] years; 174 women [63.3%]), and 915 adults aged 30 years or older (608 women [66.5%]; mean [SD] age, 46.0 [12.8] years) were screened for diabetes and hypertension. Among adults aged 18 years or older, the self-reported prevalence was 17.2% (95% CI, 15.9%-18.6%) for hypertension, 9.8% (95% CI, 8.6%-11.1%) for diabetes, and 7.3% (95% CI, 6.3%-8.5%) for both conditions. Among adults aged 30 years or older, the biologically based prevalence was 39.5% (95% CI, 36.4%-42.6%) for hypertension, 19.3% (95% CI, 16.7%-22.1%) for diabetes, and 13.5% (95% CI, 11.4%-15.9%) for both conditions. Adjusted for age and sex, prevalence for all conditions increased with age, and women had a higher prevalence of diabetes than men (adjusted prevalence ratio, 1.3%; 95% CI, 1.0%-1.7%), although the difference was not significant. Complications (57.4%; 95% CI, 51.5%-63.1%) and obese or overweight status (82.8%; 95% CI, 79.7%-85.5%) were highly prevalent. Among adults aged 30 years or older with known diagnoses, 94.1% (95% CI, 90.9%-96.2%) currently took medication. Among adults aged 18 years or older with known diagnoses, 26.8% (95% CI, 21.3%-33.1%) missed a medication dose in the past week, and 49.1% (95% CI, 43.3%-54.9%) sought care in the last month. Conclusions and Relevance: During this protracted crisis, obtaining care for noncommunicable diseases was feasible, as demonstrated by biologically based prevalence that was only moderately higher than self-reported prevalence. The high prevalence of complications and obese or overweight status, however, suggest inadequate management. Programs should focus on reinforcing adherence and secondary prevention to minimize severe morbidity.