Abstract
Introduction
Cambodia has achieved significant progress in maternal health, yet remains in the group of countries with the highest maternal mortality ratio in South-East Asia. Extra efforts ...are needed to improve maternal health through assessing the coverage of maternal health services as a continuum of care (CoC) and identifying the gaps. Our study aims to explore the coverage level of the Optimal CoC by (1) measuring the continuity of optimal antenatal care (ANC), skilled birth attendance (SBA) and optimal post-natal care (PNC), (2) identifying the determinants of dropping out from one service to another and (3) of not achieving the complete CoC.
Method
The study employed data from the Cambodia Demographic Health Survey 2014. We restricted our analysis to married women who had a live birth in the five years preceding the survey (
n
= 5678). Bi-variate and multivariate logistic regression were performed using STATA version 14.
Results
Almost 50% of women had achieved the complete optimal CoC, while the remaining have used only one or two of the services. The result shows that the level of women’s education was positively associated with the use of optimal ANC, the continuation to using optimal PNC and achieving the complete CoC. More power of women in household decision making was also positively associated with receiving the complete CoC. The birth order was negatively associated with achieving the complete CoC, while exposure to the mass media and having health insurance increased the odds of achieving the complete CoC. Household wealth consequently emerged as an influential predictor of dropping out and not achieving the complete CoC. Receiving all different elements of ANC care improved the continuity of care from optimal ANC to SBA and from SBA to optimal ANC.
Conclusion
The findings urge policy makers to approach maternal health care as a continuum of care with different determinants at each step. Household wealth was found to be the most influential factor, yet the study discovered also other barriers to optimal maternal health care which need to be addressed: future intervention should thus not only aim to increase wealth or health insurance coverage but also stimulate the education of women and empower women to claim power in household decision-making.
Abstract
Background
Hypertension (HTN) is a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases and deaths globally. To respond to the high HTN prevalence (23.5% among adults aged 40–69 years in 2016) in ...Cambodia, the government (and donors) established innovative interventions to improve access to screening, care, and treatment at different public health system and community levels. We assessed the effectiveness of these interventions and resulting health outcomes through a cascade of HTN care and explored key determinants.
Methods
We performed a population-based survey among 5070 individuals aged ≥ 40 years to generate a cascade of HTN care in Cambodia. The cascade, built with conditional approach, shows the patients’ flow in the health system and where they are lost (dropped out) along the steps: (i) prevalence, (ii) screening, (iii) diagnosis, (iv) treatment in the last twelve months, (v) treatment in the last three months, and (vi) HTN being under control. The profile of people dropping out from each bar of the cascade was determined by multivariate logistic regression.
Results
The prevalence of HTN (i) among study participants was 35.2%, of which 81.91% had their blood pressure (BP) measured in the last three years (ii). Over 63.72% of those screened were diagnosed by healthcare professionals as hypertensive patients (iii). Among these, 56.19% received treatment in the last twelve months (iv) and 54.26% received follow-up treatment in the last three months (v). Only 35.8% of treated people had their BP under control (vi). Males, those aged ≥ 40 years, and from poorer households had lower odds to receive screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Lower odds to have their BP under-control were found in males, those from poor and rich quintiles, having HTN < five years, and receiving treatment at a private facility.
Conclusions
Overall, people with HTN are lost along the cascade, suggesting limited access to appropriate screening, diagnosis, and treatment and resulting poor health outcomes, especially among those who are male, aged 40–49 years, from poorer households, and visiting a private facility. Efforts to improve the quality of facility-based and community-based interventions are needed to prevent inequitable drops along the cascade of care.
Existing research on health equity falls short of identifying a comprehensive set of indicators for measurement across health systems. Health systems in the ASEAN region, in particular, lack a ...standardised framework to assess health equity. This paper proposes a comprehensive framework to measure health equity in the ASEAN region and highlights current gaps in data availability according to its indicator components.
A comprehensive literature review was undertaken to map out a core set of indicators to evaluate health equity at the health system level. Secondary data collection was subsequently conducted to assess current data availability for ASEAN states in key global health databases, national health accounts, and policy documents.
A robust framework to measure health equity was developed comprising 195 indicators across Health System Inputs and Processes, Outputs, Outcomes, and Contextual Factors. Total indicator data availability equated to 72.9% (1423/1950). Across the ASEAN region, the Inputs and Processes sub-component of Health Financing had complete data availability for all indicators (160/160, 100%), while Access to Essential Medicine had the least data available (6/30, 20%). Under Outputs and Outcomes, Coverage of Selected Interventions (161/270, 59.63%) and Population Health (350/350, 100%) respectively had the most data available, while other indicator sub-components had little to none (≤ 38%). 72.145% (384/530) of data is available for all Contextual Factors. Out of the 10 ASEAN countries, the Philippines had the highest data availability overall at 77.44% (151/195), while Brunei Darussalam and Vietnam had the lowest data availability at 67.18% (131/195).
The data availability gaps highlighted in this study underscore the need for a standardised framework to guide data collection and benchmarking of health equity in ASEAN. There is a need to prioritise regular data collection for overlooked indicator areas and in countries with low levels of data availability. The application of this indicator framework and resulting data availability analysis could be conducted beyond ASEAN to enable cross-regional benchmarking of health equity.
IntroductionIntegrated care interventions for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HT) are effective, yet challenges exist with regard to their implementation and scale-up. The ‘SCale-Up diaBetes ...and hYpertension care’ (SCUBY) Project aims to facilitate the scale-up of integrated care for T2D and HT through the co-creation and implementation of contextualised scale-up roadmaps in Belgium, Cambodia and Slovenia. We hereby describe the plan for the process and scale-up evaluation of the SCUBY Project. The specific goals of the process and scale-up evaluation are to (1) analyse how, and to what extent, the roadmap has been implemented, (2) assess how the differing contexts can influence the implementation process of the scale-up strategies and (3) assess the progress of the scale-up.Methods and analysisA comprehensive framework was developed to include process and scale-up evaluation embedded in implementation science theory. Key implementation outcomes include acceptability, feasibility, relevance, adaptation, adoption and cost of roadmap activities. A diverse range of predominantly qualitative tools—including a policy dialogue reporting form, a stakeholder follow-up interview and survey, project diaries and policy mapping—were developed to assess how stakeholders perceive the scale-up implementation process and adaptations to the roadmap. The role of context is considered relevant, and barriers and facilitators to scale-up will be continuously assessed.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been obtained from the Institutional Review Board (ref. 1323/19) at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (Antwerp, Belgium). The SCUBY Project presents a comprehensive framework to guide the process and scale-up evaluation of complex interventions in different health systems. We describe how implementation outcomes, mechanisms of impact and scale-up outcomes can be a basis to monitor adaptations through a co-creation process and to guide other scale-up interventions making use of knowledge translation and co-creation activities.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as type-2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HTN) pose a massive burden on health systems, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In Cambodia, to tackle ...this issue, the government and partners have introduced several limited interventions to ensure service availability. However, scaling-up these health system interventions is needed to ensure universal supply and access to NCDs care for Cambodians. This study aims to explore the macro-level barriers of the health system that have impeded the scaling-up of integrated T2D and HTN care in Cambodia.
Using qualitative research design comprised an articulation between (i) semi-structured interviews (33 key informant interviews and 14 focus group discussions), (ii) a review of the National Strategic Plan and policy documents related to NCD/T2D/HTN care using qualitative document analysis, and (iii) direct field observation to gain an overview into health system factors. We used a health system dynamic framework to map macro-level barriers to the health system elements in thematic content analysis.
Scaling-up the T2D and HTN care was impeded by the major macro-level barriers of the health system including weak leadership and governance, resource constraints (dominantly financial resources), and poor arrangement of the current health service delivery. These were the result of the complex interaction of the health system elements including the absence of a roadmap as a strategic plan for the NCD approach in health service delivery, limited government investment in NCDs, lack of collaboration between key actors, limited competency of healthcare workers due to insufficient training and lack of supporting resources, mis-match the demand and supply of medicine, and absence of local data to generate evidence-based for the decision-making.
The health system plays a vital role in responding to the disease burden through the implementation and scale-up of health system interventions. To respond to barriers across the entire health system and the inter-relatedness of each element, and to gear toward the outcome and goals of the health system for a (cost-)effective scale-up of integrated T2D and HTN care, key strategic priorities are: (1) Cultivating leadership and governance, (2) Revitalizing the health service delivery, (3) Addressing resource constraints, and (4) Renovating the social protection schemes.
Health systems worldwide struggle to manage the growing burden of type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Many patients receive suboptimal care, especially those most vulnerable. An evidence-based ...Integrated Care Package (ICP) with primary care-based diagnosis, treatment, education and self-management support and collaboration, leads to better health outcomes, but there is little knowledge of how to scale-up. The Scale-up integrated care for diabetes and hypertension project (SCUBY) aims to address this problem by roadmaps for scaling-up ICP in different types of health systems: a developing health system in a lower middle-income country (Cambodia); a centrally steered health system in a high-income country (Slovenia); and a publicly funded highly privatised health-care health system in a high-income country (Belgium). In a quasi-experimental multi-case design, country-specific scale-up strategies are developed, implemented and evaluated. A three-dimensional framework assesses scale-up along three axes: (1) increase in population coverage; (2) expansion of the ICP package; and (3) integration into the health system. The study includes a formative, intervention and evaluation phase. The intervention entails the development and implementation of an improved scale-up strategy through a roadmap with a minimum dataset to monitor proximal and distal outcomes. The SCUBY project is expected to result in three different roadmaps, tailored to the specific health system and country context, to progress scale-up of the ICP along three dimensions. These roadmaps can be adapted to other health systems with similar typology. Implementation is expected to increase the number of well-controlled patients with type 2 diabetes and hypertension in Cambodia, to reduce inequities in care and increase patient empowerment in Belgium and Slovenia.
Introduction: Hypertension (HTN) is a major public health problem and a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases and deaths globally. A continuum of HTN care is necessary for people living with HTN ...since this chronic disease requires comprehensive life-long healthcare management. Several studies have examined the factors influencing the adherence to HTN care. Socio-demographic and economic characteristics are commonly studied as influencing factors of each step of the cascade of HTN care, yet little is known about the effect of social support on the cascade of HTN care. Therefore, our study aims to assess the role of social support on the cascade of HTN care in Cambodia.
Method: We performed a population-based survey (5070 individuals aged over 40 and over) to generate a cascade of care for HTN and assess the levels of social support in Cambodia. The cascade shows the patients’ flow in the health system and where they are lost (dropped) along all steps of the cascade from (i) prevalence, (ii) screening, (iii) diagnosis, (iv) treatment in the last 12 months, (v) treatment in the last 3 months, (vi) to being under control. Social support was assessed using the 8-item Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the effect of social support (from a family member) on each step of the cascade.
Results: Among people living with HTN, 22.4%, 27.0%, 21.6% and 28.9% reported receiving low, medium, high and very high levels of social support respectively. Higher levels of social support were found in female adults, married adults, adults aged over 60, as well as those living in a household of 4 to 5 members and those receiving some or having completed primary education. Participants who received medium and very high levels of social support had two times the odds of receiving treatment for HTN as participants with low levels of support both in the last 12 months and the last 3 months. While, participants who had high level of social support had five times the odds of receiving treatment for HTN (both in the last 12 and 3 months) as participants with low levels of social support.
Conclusion: Social support from a family member is strongly associated with treatment compliance in the HTN cascade of care in Cambodia. Our findings suggest an exploration of using social support as a tool to promote adherence to treatment programs for HTN care.
Implication for applicability/transferability
Families are a potential source of social support for hypertensive patients to overcome social barriers and execute disease management tasks especially for treatment compliance. Promoting social support through a social intervention could be a viable path to improve care for hypertensive patients since chronic illness care poses challenges for isolated patients, but could be made easier with the assistance from family.
To assess usage of public and private healthcare, related healthcare expenditure, and associated factors for people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and/or hypertension (HTN) and for people without those ...conditions in Cambodia.
A cross-sectional household survey.
Five operational districts (ODs) in Cambodia.
Data were from 2360 participants aged ≥40 years who had used healthcare services at least once in the 3 months preceding the survey.
The main variables of interest were the number of healthcare visits and healthcare expenditure in the last 3 months.
The majority of healthcare visits took place in the private sector. Only 22.0% of healthcare visits took place in public healthcare facilities: 21.7% in people with HTN, 37.2% in people with T2D, 34.7% in people with T2D plus HTN and 18.9% in people without the two conditions (p value <0.01). For people with T2D and/or HTN, increased public healthcare use was significantly associated with Health Equity Fund (HEF) membership and living in ODs with
. Furthermore, significant healthcare expenditure reduction was associated with HEF membership and using public healthcare facilities in these populations.
Overall public healthcare usage was relatively low; however, it was higher in people with chronic conditions. HEF membership and
contributed to higher public healthcare usage among people with chronic conditions. Using public healthcare services, regardless of HEF status reduced healthcare expenditure, but the reduction in spending was more noticeable in people with HEF membership. To protect people with T2D and/or HTN from financial risk and move towards the direction of universal health coverage, the public healthcare system should further improve care quality and expand social health protection. Future research should link healthcare use and expenditure across different healthcare models to actual treatment outcomes to denote areas for further investment.
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