Health insurance coverage with or without a nurse-led task shifting strategy for hypertension control: A pragmatic cluster randomized trial in Ghana.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Poor access to care and physician shortage are major barriers to hypertension control in sub-Saharan Africa. Implementation of evidence-based systems-level strategies targeted at these barriers are lacking. We conducted a study to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of provision of health insurance coverage (HIC) alone versus a nurse-led task shifting strategy for hypertension control (TASSH) plus HIC on systolic blood pressure (SBP) reduction among patients with uncontrolled hypertension in Ghana.

Methods and findings

Using a pragmatic cluster randomized trial, 32 community health centers within Ghana's public healthcare system were randomly assigned to either HIC alone or TASSH + HIC. A total of 757 patients with uncontrolled hypertension were recruited betwe

SUBMITTER: Ogedegbe G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5929500 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature