Scale-up integrated care for diabetes and hypertension in Cambodia, Slovenia and Belgium (SCUBY): a study design for a quasi-experimental multiple case study.

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.

Human papilloma virus correlates of high grade cervical dysplasia in HIV-infected women in Mombasa, Kenya: a cross-sectional analysis.

BACKGROUND: Women living with HIV are at increased risk to be co-infected with HPV, persistent high-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and increased HR HPV viral load, which make them more at risk for cervical cancer. Despite their inherent vulnerability, there is a scarcity of data on potential high risk (pHR) and HR HPV genotypes in HIV- infected women with cervical dysplasia and HPV-type specific viral load in this population in Sub Saharan Africa. The aim of this analysis of HIV-infected women was to explore the virological correlates of high-grade cervical dysplasia (CIN 2+) in HIV-infected women, thereby profiling HPV genotypes. METHOD: This analysis assesses baseline data obtained from a cohort study of 74 HIV-infected women with abnormal cytology attending a Comprehensive Care Centre for patients with HIV infection in Mombasa, Kenya. Quantitative real-time PCR was used for HPV typing and viral load. RESULTS: CIN 2 was observed in 16% (12/74) of women, CIN 3 in 23% (17/74), and, invasive cervical carcinoma (ICC) in 1% (1/74) of women. In women with CIN 3+, HPV 16 (44%), HPV 56 (33%), HPV 33 and 53 (HPV 53 (28%) were the most prevalent genotypes. HPV 53 was observed as a stand-alone HPV in one woman with ICC. A multivariate logistic regression adjusting for age, CD4 count and HPV co-infections suggested the presence of HPV 31 as a predictor of CIN 2+ (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]:4.9; p = 0.05; 95% (Confidence Interval) [CI]:1.03-22.5). Women with CIN2+ had a significantly higher viral log mean of HPV 16, (11.2 copies/ 10,000 cells; 95% CI: 9.0-13.4) than with CIN 1. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of HPV 53 in CIN 3 and as a stand-alone genotype in the patient with invasive cervical cancer warrants that its clinical significance be further revisited among HIV-infected women. HPV 31, along with elevated means of HPV 16 viral load were predictors of CIN 2 + .