“Through HEARTS we propose to improve the health of a cohort of patients with Cardiovascular and other Non-Communicable Disease in St Lucia”.
These were the sentiments echoed by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Sharon Belmar-George at the Webinar hosted by the PAHO Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Offices on July 7, 2020.
The HEARTS initiative was launched in St Lucia on October 31, 2019 with the aim at improving the prevention and control of cardiovascular health through Blood Pressure Control and other modalities. This programme is being implemented in collaboration with PAHO/WHO and the general population in St Lucia. Six demonstration sites were selected with a demonstration site in six of the eight health regions in the country.
Cardiovascular Diseases are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the region accounting for upwards of 70% of deaths. In 2011, following the Political Declaration on NCD’s adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Global Monitoring Framework (GMF) was developed. The framework tracks the progress in preventing and controlling major NCDs and their risk factors. Nine targets were defined, three of these are related to cardiovascular diseases and these are addressed in the Global HEARTS Initiative. The Global HEARTS Initiative consists of five technical packages namely MPOWER, ACTIVE, SHAKE, REPLACE and HEARTS. Therefore, countries implementing HEARTS are well on their way to addressing the defined targets in the GMF.
Having commenced the pre-implementation data collection including the STEPwise survey and identification of key indicators, capacity building sessions were held with key stakeholders. St Lucia was well on its way for a successful implementation at the demonstration sites, when it recorded its first COVID-19 case on March 13, 2020. This was two months since the official commencement of the HEARTS programme. The planned activities were halted as resources were now diverted to managing the epidemic. The physical distancing and other public health measures instituted by the Government further resulted in a decrease in uptake of services.
Therefore, during the month of April 2020 there was a decrease in the number of clients with non-communicable diseases seen at the demonstration sites. This reduction was approximately a third of clients the previous months. This reduction was not only confined to NCDs, but overall clinical service uptake. The subsequent months also revealed a decrease in the usual numbers of NCDs clients seen at the clinics. An evaluation conducted in July 2020, revealed that there was still better control of blood pressures within the given population at the demonstration sites when compared to the date of commencement in January 2020.
With this glimmer of hope on the horizon towards successfully addressing cardiovascular disease, the Ministry of Health St Lucia made an immediate decision to expand the programme nationally to all public wellness centres. Capacity building sessions are planned for all health care workers in August 2020.
Recognizing the ‘new norm’, emphasis is being placed on self-management strategies with focus on the national expansion of the Healthy-Living Counselling module which addresses the risk factors for NCDs.
On Friday, July 31, 2020, the Pan American Health Organization handed over tent calendars which are basic job aids for health workers. These were developed by the Ministry of Health with technical support from PAHO and to be utilized by health care workers as an aid to the strengthening of self-management techniques in the Health-Living Counselling Module. They will also be used by community health workers during home visits and other outreach activities. These job aids will not only be at the demonstration sites but all other facility as a part of the national expansion.
The Pan American Health Organization congratulates St Lucia on the successful strides they have made towards mitigating the impact of morbidity and mortality associated with Cardiovascular diseases. This jingle was develop in August 2020 to support the national expansion of the HEARTS initiative in St Lucia.
