Decentralising healthcare for diabetes and hypertension from secondary to primary level in a humanitarian setting in Kurdistan, Iraq: a qualitative study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Experts suggest that Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) care is best delivered at the primary level, including in humanitarian crisis settings. In many crisis-affected countries, NCD care is predominantly delivered by specialists at secondary care level, and there is limited evidence on decentralising NCD care in such settings. We aimed to explore health actor and patient experiences of decentralising diabetes and hypertension (DM/HTN) care from a hospital to primary care clinics in the humanitarian setting of Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Methods and results

We conducted a qualitative study including 30 semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of patients (n = 16), healthcare providers (n = 7), and key stakeholders (n = 7) involved in the decentralisatio

SUBMITTER: Ansbro E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11998334 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature