Scaling-up a program to strengthen diabetes care in public primary care clinics for underserved populations in Argentina

Objectives

To scale up comprehensive care to people with diabetes living in underserved areas in three low-income provinces of Argentina.

Approach

Capacity building of national and local provincial Primary Care Network Programme teams to implement interventions to improve the quality of diabetes care (ToT approach).
Capacity building of primary level clinics through comprehensive differentiated training of physicians, nurses, CHWs and diabetes educators based on workshops, e-learning and on-site supervision.
Establishing of a new diabetes registry based on electronic medical record system (EMR) and a web-based platform; new registry to gradually replace existing paper-based system and improve control of, in particular, high-risk patients.
Implementation of a mHealth intervention based on mobile phones/SMS messages to registered patients; messages will consist of reminders about clinic visits, medication etc.
Comprehensive monitoring of all project components notably through deployment of MoH field level coordinators within target areas.

Results at completion

• 34 key personnel from Primary Care Network Program teams trained to implement educational activities and educational outreach visits and monitor programme implementation
• 21 primary level clinics strengthened (catchment population 315,000)
• 542 primary care physicians and nurses, 368 CHWs and 292 diabetes educators trained in diabetes prevention and management
• Diabetes registry based on Electronic Medical Record (EMR) established at targeted clinics with central level (IECS) connection and data compilation
• Approx. 31,000 patients enrolled in the Electronic Medical Record system (EMR)