As part of her efforts to promote heart health in Cameroon, the CBC Health Services (CBCHS), with support from Resolve to Safe Lives, through the LINKS project has brought together a panel of experts who, through deliberations have resolved on the best possible management protocol for hypertension within the CBCHS. This was during a consensus meeting that took place on the 11th of July 2019 at the CBC Health Services Resource Center Mvan, Yaounde.
The “need” for a drug-and dose specific protocol was clearly demonstrated with a presentation of an assessment of clinicians’ Use of Guidelines/Protocols for managing Hypertension by Dr. Epie Njume, General Supervisor of the NCD Prevention and Control Program and Technical Supervisor of the Project. Of the 68 respondents, only 60% accepted that a Hypertension Management Guideline/Protocol is present, and can be verified at the facility.
About one in 10 admitted are not using any Hypertension Management Guideline/Protocol, but those who did, use about nine different guidelines/protocols between them. There was heterogeneity in the prescription patterns of the clinicians, of course, considering so many protocols are in use. Amongst those who were not using any Guidelines/Protocol, reasons included; available protocols are complex, confusing, impracticable in our setting, lacking commodities, and protocols not being available at all. However, it is noteworthy that no protocol for hypertension management exist at the national level and so the results of this assessment may be a reflect what happens nationwide.
A panel of experts from the Ministry of Public Health, CBCHS Health Services, and the Cameroon Cardiac Society met, and following the WHO HEARTS approach, came up with three versions of a draft protocol-the “approach paper”. Then, a second meeting involving the panelists and other stakeholders including physicians, nurses and patients, held and deliberations led to a consensus on the form and structure of a single, one-page drug and dose-specific protocol with steps and a titration schedule, was reached.
Clinicians from five CBC health services facilities-Bafoussam Baptist Health Centre, Baptist Hospital Mutengene, Ekoundoum Baptist Health Centre, Mboppi Baptist Hospital and Nkwen Baptist Health Centre, will be trained on how to use the protocol which will be piloted for six months. At the end of this pilot phase, blood pressure control rates will be assessed and compared with baseline to see if using the protocol makes a difference. At the end of the project, we will advocate for the protocol to be adopted at the national level which will be reviewed periodically by experts as new evidence arise. We are immensely grateful to resolve to save lives for giving us this opportunity to improve our service to hypertensive patients
