Research Team to Devote the Upcoming Year to Facility Assessments and Patient Studies

Dr. Acio Sarah examines a young patient at the PEN-Plus clinic at Atutur General Hospital in the Eastern Region of Uganda. (Photo: © Badru Katumba/World Health Organization)

The research team at the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity has numerous journal articles on track for publication in the coming months. These studies examine diverse aspects of PEN-Plus implementation and impact. The Center is the Boston co-secretariat of the NCDI Poverty Network.

Among the expected publications is a pair of papers about the baseline assessments of facilities in nine of the countries in which the NCDI Poverty Network operates. These papers look at health facility capabilities before the introduction of PEN-Plus.  

Research team members conducted the baseline assessments at the beginning of the three-year funding cycle that brought PEN-Plus to facilities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Dr. Alma Adler, director of research, monitoring, and evaluation for the Center, said the assessments revealed the gaps in care and capabilities that had spurred PEN-Plus implementation.   

“What the assessments have shown is the need for PEN-Plus services,” she said. “Before the introduction of PEN-Plus, many of these rural and peri-urban district hospitals did not have the capability to treat people living with severe conditions like type 1 diabetes and sickle cell disease.”

The papers also examine the evolution of services at hospitals in rural settings, as the research team tracks the development of specialized services through PEN-Plus.

Dr. Chantelle Boudreaux, associate director for integration research at the Center, said the assessments are comprehensive.

“It’s important to go in and document not only the availability of medicines,” Dr. Boudreaux added, “but also clinic staffing levels and capacities.”

With the initial three-year funding cycle completed, in early January the research team sent endline facility assessments to each facility to close the loop in data collection and measurement. The research team will soon examine these additional results.

“It’s a nice full circle that will be happening in the next few months,” Dr. Adler said.

Dr. Adler added that the research team has a busy year ahead. Upcoming publications, in various stages of review, focus on such topics as diabetes self-management education; a scoping review of primary care models, conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization; and an ongoing analysis of an 18-month longitudinal study of patient care at the PEN-Plus clinic in Nhamatanda, Mozambique.