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Conduct

We conduct research around chronic disease prevention in low-resource areas.

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YALE

Location

Connecticut, USA and India

Objective

Adapt a successful telemedine-based diabetic retinopathy prevention program from India and implement it in the Lower Naugatuck Valley region of Connecticut.

Gap and translation

The experience of the collaboration between Community Health Center, Inc (CHCI) in Connecticut and Aravind Eye Care System in India, illustrates that using tele-ophthalmology in the primary care office is an effective innovative strategy in screening underserved and at-risk patients with a two-fold increase in screening rates (from 10% to 20%) and with 60% of those screened being from ethnic minorities and 24% uninsured. We are creating a diabetic retinopathy screening program in our community that models this collaboration. Similar to CHCI’s work, one component of the program will be based at Griffin Hospital’s new health clinic, which is currently under development. Like the Aravind Eye Care System, the second component of the project is comprised of using telemedicine equipment to take and transmit retina pictures during primary care visits. This is particularly relevant to our local Valley residents who have identified transportation as one of the key needs for patient healthcare access.

Partners

  • Griffin Hospital in Derby, CT
  • Aravind Eye Care System in India
  • Community Health Center, Inc. in Connecticut

ROCHESTER

Technology and Health in US-affiliated Island Communities

Location

US-affiliated Pacific Island communities and Puerto Rico.

Objective

Conduct community-engaged projects that incorporates of one or more “e-health” strategies to address sustainable behavior and/or systems changes relating to chronic disease prevention.

Partners

Faculty at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine are the lead implementation partners, with participation from selected health coordinators and other champions from the US-affiliated Pacific Island communities. Faculty at the University of Puerto Rico are the lead implementation partners in the Caribbean.

Current Activities

Community-engaged needs assessments are underway to identify health and technology capacities, priorities, and projects.

CHICAGO

Cervical Cancer Prevention and Policy Development in Senegal

Location

Senegal

Objective

We will assess the horizontal (cross regional) and vertical (national) scaling of cervical cancer prevention policy and evaluate a partnership between the local communities, providers and health systems in Kedougou, Senegal; Sédhiou, Senegal; Peace Corps Senegal; the Institute of Health and Development in Dakar, Senegal; and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The intervention will use community participation in health services quality improvement and policy development to implement and institutionalize policy that promotes access to cervical cancer prevention services in Kedougou, Senegal and Sédhiou, Senegal that can eventually be scaled nationally.

Gap

While it is known that increasing access to primary health care services that are responsive to the local context improves health status, low- and middle-income country (LMIC) adoption of evidence-based solutions to strengthen local primary health care services remains slow.

Translation and Dissemination plans

We plan to use the CDC’s Knowledge to Action Framework to initiate cervical cancer policy development in the two rural regions of Senegal which will result in trained health care providers and service guidelines directed at locally- prioritized cervical cancer prevention through sustained, community oriented partnerships.

Current activities

During the current project year we will initiate a baseline prevalence study, conduct train-the-trainer programs on VIA and cryotherapy among local health staff, conduct evaluation activities related to the local partnerships, implement quality improvement strategies at the clinic level and undertake initial steps in the development of cervical cancer prevention policy in each region.

Translate

We translate research to help address the “know-do” gap.

CDC Global and Territorial Health Research Network Coordinating Center

CDC’s Prevention Research Centers Program