Developing, implementing, and monitoring tailored strategies for integrated knowledge translation in five sub-Saharan African countries.

BACKGROUND: Integrated knowledge translation (IKT) through strategic, continuous engagement with decision-makers represents an approach to bridge research, policy and practice. The Collaboration for Evidence-based Healthcare and Public Health in Africa (CEBHA +), comprising research institutions in Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Germany, developed and implemented tailored IKT strategies as part of its multifaceted research on prevention and care of non-communicable diseases and road traffic injuries. The objective of this article is to describe the CEBHA + IKT approach and report on the development, implementation and monitoring of site-specific IKT strategies. METHODS: We draw on findings derived from the mixed method IKT evaluation (conducted in 2020-2021), and undertook document analyses and a reflective survey among IKT implementers. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively and qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. The authors used the TIDieR checklist to report results in a structured manner. RESULTS: Preliminary IKT evaluation data (33 interviews with researchers and stakeholders from policy and practice, and 31 survey responses), 49 documents, and eight responses to the reflective survey informed this article. In each of the five African CEBHA + countries, a site-specific IKT strategy guided IKT implementation, tailored to the respective national context, engagement aims, research tasks, and individuals involved. IKT implementers undertook a variety of IKT activities at varying levels of engagement that targeted a broad range of decision-makers and other stakeholders, particularly during project planning, data interpretation, and output dissemination. Throughout the project, the IKT teams continued to tailor IKT strategies informally and modified the IKT approach by responding to ad hoc engagements and involving non-governmental organisations, universities, and communities. Challenges to using systematic, formalised IKT strategies arose in particular with respect to the demand on time and resources, leading to the modification of monitoring processes. CONCLUSION: Tailoring of the CEBHA + IKT approach led to the inclusion of some atypical IKT partners and to greater responsiveness to unexpected opportunities for decision-maker engagement. Benefits of using systematic IKT strategies included clarity on engagement aims, balancing of existing and new strategic partnerships, and an enhanced understanding of research context, including site-specific structures for evidence-informed decision-making.

Effectiveness of community-based interventions for prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review.

Hypertension poses a significant public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa due to various risk factors. Community-based intervention for prevention and control of hypertension is an effective strategy to minimize the negative health outcomes. However, comprehensive systematic review evidence to inform effective community-based interventions for prevention and control of hypertension in low resource settings is lacking. This study aimed to synthesize the effectiveness of community-based interventions on prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa. A comprehensive search for studies was carried out on PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science Core Collection, Embase, Scopus, and Google scholar databases. The result of the review was reported according to PRISMA guidelines. Studies published in English language were included. Two independent reviewers conducted critical appraisal of included studies and extracted the data using predefined excel sheet. Experimental, quasi experimental, cohort and analytical cross-sectional studies conducted on adults who have received community-based interventions for prevention and controls of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa were included. In this systematic review, a total of eight studies were included, comprising of two interventional studies, two quasi-experimental studies, three cohort studies, and one comparative cross-sectional study. The interventions included health education, health promotion, home-based screening and diagnosis, as well as referral and treatment of hypertensive patients. The sample sizes ranged from 236 to 13,412 in the intervention group and 346 to 6,398 in the control group. This systematic review shows the effect of community-based interventions on reduction of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. However, the existing evidence is inconsistence and not strong enough to synthesize the effect of community-based interventions for the prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, further primary studies need on the effect of community-based interventions for the prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa. Systematic review registration number: PROSPERO CRD42022342823.