Chronic Care Clinic

Background:

In its “Innovative Care for Chronic Conditions,” the WHO predicts that chronic diseases will account for 78 percent of the global disease burden by 2020. Yet, since the management of chronic illnesses requires primary healthcare services – accessible clinics, constant drug supplies, health care professionals with the resources to provide individualized care, and attention to patients’ socioeconomic status – few equitable models for chronic care in resource-poor settings have been developed. Having recently emerged from a thirteen-year long civil war, Liberia’s ability to manage chronic illnesses is especially limited. A recent study, led by members of Tiyatien Health, which reported a high prevalence of mental health illnesses in Liberia provides evidence of the extent of chronic disease and the lack of care available for those suffering with chronic illnesses.

Program Objective:

To develop an equitable model for advancing primary healthcare services in rural Liberia within the public sector. Based on the results of this program, the Ministry of Health will, with aid from the international community, be able to improve and expand the nation’s primary healthcare services.

Program Description:

This program applies the innovative interventions used in Tiyatien Health’s HIV Equity Initiative to the management of asthma, diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, and mental health.  In establishing a chronic care clinic at Martha Tubman Memorial Hospital in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh, the program provides patients with free and accessible treatment, socioeconomic assistance through food packages, transportation stipends, and micro-finance opportunities, and psychosocial support through case managers and social workers. With longitudinal patient care, the chronic care clinic will also provide education on nutrition, family planning, and water quality. With the training of non-physician clinicians in the care of chronic diseases, the program will support the expansion of primary care in rural Liberia.

Project Contacts:

Weafus Quitoe                           Rajesh Panjabi, M.D., M.P.H.

Project Coordinator                  Executive Director

Weafus.quitoe@gmail.com            rpanjabi@tiyatienhealth.org

Key Outputs:

• Trained community health workers
• Trained hospital staff in longitudinal care
• Improved patient database system
• Improved health infrastructure in southeastern Liberia
• Patients with chronic illnesses given the appropriate therapy
• Improved socioeconomic status
• Advocacy for the need for care of chronic diseases
• Program successes and challenges