The Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) is training healthcare workers from four selected primary healthcare centres in Lusaka to integrate the care and management of cardiometabolic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia into routine HIV services.

This ongoing effort undertaken under the TASKPEN study being conducted in collaboration with the University of Zambia (UNZA) and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), aims to enhance the management of these conditions among people living with HIV (PLHIV).

CIDRZ Lead Medical Mentor for TASKPEN and an Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases Specialist, Dr Anchindika Mugala, emphasised the importance of the training, stating that it is a key component of the TASKPEN intervention trial involving 12 primary health facilities in Lusaka.

Dr Mugala explained that the findings from the TASKPEN study will provide important recommendations for integrating cardiometabolic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) care into the national HIV treatment programmes.

“Working with the Ministry of Health and other partners, eight facilities in Lusaka are already implementing best practices for managing metabolic NCDs among PLHIV, and we intend to proceed to four more sites. These are the teams currently undergoing training,” she said.

Dr Mugala further added that since one of the strategies that TASKPEN uses is task-shifting, key for empowering non-physician health care workers to screen for diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension, CIDRZ included community health workers and peers in the intervention training.

Meanwhile, Bauleni Urban Health Centre Nurse In Charge Esnart Mambwe Banda said with the introduction of TASKPEN and NCD training, her facility is poised to reduce NCD-related deaths and disabilities by enhancing the overall health outcomes of antiretroviral therapy (ART) clients by promoting adherence to NCD management through multidrug dispensation.

And Chelstone Zonal Hospital Nurse In Charge, Juliet Mwaba Chanda, said the TASKPEN training would improve service delivery to clients by integrating services, including screening for opportunistic infections and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which have often been neglected in many patients.

Currently, 100 participants drawn from Lusaka’s Kanyama Level 1 Hospital, Chelstone Zonal Health Hospital, Mtendere Health Centre, and Bauleni Urban Health Centre are undergoing training. By the end of the programme, 200 healthcare workers are expected to be trained.