Urban Health Action Research Project (2009) | Institute of Public Health Bengaluru

Improving access to quality NCD care in Bengaluru

Urban Health Action Research Project (UHARP) team has been working in KG Halli since 2009 with the aim to improve access to quality health care for the residents of KG Halli by working with the community, public and private health providers and the higher authority. The team started working in the area by conducting a census in ward no 30, KG Halli, to understand the socio-demographic and economic status of the community as well as the illness profile, health seeking behaviour of patients in the area. After completing the survey of 9,299 house holds, four women were trained to work in the area as community health assistants. Also team coordinated few rounds of meeting with providers in the area to explore options of collaboration for referral and improve quality of care and reduce cost of care.

Since 2013, considering the learning’s till then, the UHARP currently focuses on non communicable diseases (NCD) with the aim of improving access to quality diabetes and Hypertension care for the residents of ward 30, KG Halli, Bengaluru. Major activities are creating awareness in the community about management of illness, strengthening public health centre, introducing patient retained medical record and coordinating to make low cost quality medicines available in the area to reduce cost of care and improve adherence to medications.

The study is of six years duration. It commenced in  2009 and will continue until  2016.

Aim:

To improve access to quality non communicable disease care for the residents of ward 30, Kadugondanahalli (KG Halli), Bengaluru.

Objectives :

  • To improve affordability and adherence to common chronic conditions by facilitating provision of low cost and rational facility based primary care service
  • To promote chronic disease management through promotive, preventive and curative care
  • To strengthen the community health centre services availability by provision of training and motivational visits
  • To promote use of patient retained health card and strengthen referral system

Action Research conducted in Kadugondanahalli, Bengaluru.

Baseline census of ward number 30, KG Halli was conducted between 2009-2010, using structured questionnaire to capture socio demographic details, illness profile, health seeking behaviour and cost of care. Following that midline survey was conducted using the same structured questionnaire in 2013 to compare the difference over three period and end line survey will be conducted in 2016 to assess the impact of intervention and compare the data over six years.

Data about awareness about diabetes and hypertension, generic medicine and other information will be collected using structured questionnaire with few open ended questions by community health assistants during home visits. The retained medical record booklet has been given to the individuals reported to behaving diabetes or hypertension or both as part of the project activity. A qualitative study will be conducted to understand the effectiveness of this initiative.

Duration of project
2009 – 2016

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Study Team

Dr Thriveni BS

Team Lead

Leelavathi

Community Health Assistant

Dr Mrunalini G

Project coordinator

Tabassum

Community Health Assistant

Nagarathna

Community Health Assistant

Gallery

Urban-health-center-in-K.G.Halli

Training-of-community-health-assistants

Patients-at-the-community-health-center

Patient-records-distributed-at-the-primary-care-clinic

Library-facilities-utilised-by-the-children-of-K.G.Halli

Health-care-providers-interacting-with-the-community

Group-awareness-session-on-diabtes-and-hypertension

Government-Community-health-center-in-K.G.Halli

Dispensing-of-generic-medicines-at-the-primary-care-clinic

Computer-training-classes-for-school-drop-out

Community-health-assistants-conducting-school-health-program

Community-Awareness-session

Children-at-the-community-center

Awareness-session-at-the-primary-care-clinic

Video Documentation

Study outputs

Blog

How can researchers meet community needs?

How can researchers meet community needs?

This article originally appeared on BMJ Blogs on April 24, 2015 under the same title. This blog is my reflection on regular field visits as part of the urban health action research project that I am currently working on. The field site for the project is a very poor...

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My Monday musings of being a “Generic”!

My Monday musings of being a “Generic”!

Author: Dr Mrunalini I am pretty well known in the country and constantly have a presence in news making headlines against the multibillion Pharmaceutical industries.   I still struggle on a daily basis convincing people that I’m as good as the BIG BRANDS, and to...

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Publications

Lifestyle diseases on the rise among urban poor: Study by Mrunalini Gowda
Chronic conditions are on rise globally and in India . Prevailing intra urban inequities in access to healthcare services compounds the problems faced by urban poor
This research paper reports trends in prevalence of chronic conditions and health seeking pattern among the urban poor neighbourhood in South India.
For more details Click here
Mrunalini J Gowda: The rising burden of chronic conditions among urban poor: a three-year follow-up survey in Bengaluru, India

click here to see the article

Upendra Bhojani et.al,. Constraints faced by urban poor in managing diabetes care: patients’ perspectives from South India.

Click here to see the article.

Upendra Bhojani et.al,. No longer diseases of the wealthy: prevalence and health-seeking for self-reported chronic conditions among urban poor in Southern India.

Click here to see the article.

B.S. Thriveni et.al.,Health system challenges in delivering maternal health care: Evidence from poor urban neighbourhood in South India.

Click here to see the article.

Upendra Bhojani et.al,.Challenges in organizing quality diabetes care for the urban poor : a local health perspective

Click here to see the article.

Upendra Bhojani et.al.,Out-of-pocket healthcare payments on chronic conditions impoverish urban poor in Bangalore, India

Click here to see the article.

Upendra Bhojani et.al.,Health system obstacles in the delivery of quality care to People with Chronic Diseases (PWCD): a case study from urban India.

Click here to see the article.

Understanding factors at household level affecting access to diabetes care: Study from urban south India
Controlled lives:Impact of social factors on reproductive rights of women in Urban South India

Posters

Case note-|| Youth as change agents|| written by Intern at IPH

jenna case study

Based on her internship with the Urban Health Action  Research Project at IPH under the guidance of Dr. Thriveni, faculty  of IPH and Shannon L Sibbald, PhD (Assistant Professor, Western University), Jenna Paulson from Western Cape University, Ontario written a case note titled, “Youth as agents”.
 To read more: Click Here
Oral presentation at the Annual Conference of Be-cause Health, 28th November 2013, Brussels, Belgium.

Thriveni BS, et al., Integrated or fragmented health care? Experiences from an Action Research Project in an urban poor neighbourhood in Bangalore.

Poster presentation at the Geneva Health Forum 18-20 April 2012, Geneva Switzerland

Thriveni BS, et al., Understanding lack of access to diabetes care: A patient perspective from urban South India.

Poster presented at the 7th European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health, 3-6 October 2011, Barcelona, Spain

Thriveni BS, et al. Controlled lives: Impact of social factors on reproductive rights of women in urban South India.

Poster presented at the 7th European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health, 3-6 October 2011, Barcelona, Spain

Bhojani UM, et al., Health system obstacles in the delivery of quality care to People With Chronic Diseases (PWCD): a case study from urban India

Health Systems Symposium, Cape Town, South Africa. October 2014.

Bhargav et al., A teenage single mother and community health worker: an urban story.

Poster Presented at International conference on urban health ( ICUH) 2015 at Dhaka , Bangladesh May 2015

Disintegrated public maternal health services: Experience from urban poor neighbourhood in India.

New-file---Urban-poor-neighbour-poster-3-x-4-size(2)(1)-page-001 

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