Impact of Community Health Workers on Adherence to Therapy for Non-Communicable Chronic Disease in Chiapas, Mexico
Impact of Community Health Workers on Adherence to Therapy for Non-Communicable Chronic Disease in Chiapas, Mexico
This study evaluates the effectiveness of community health workers when added to routine care
 for patients with diabetes and high blood pressure in rural clinics in Chiapas, Mexico. It
 does so by recording information on adherence to therapy, blood pressure and hemoglobin A1c
 while a non-governmental organization working in Mexico trains and introduces a community
 health worker program.
Compañeros en Salud (CES), an affiliate project of Partners in Health, has been working in
 the rural Sierra of Chiapas, Mexico since February 2012. CES works in partnership with the
 local Ministry of Health to rehabilitate and staff existing government primary care clinics.
 Each community's clinic is staffed by one CES project physician year-round. CES activities
 span the range of allopathic medicine, but the focus of the project is in the prevention,
 detection, diagnosis and management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes and
 hypertension. CES currently operates in several rural communities with catchment areas of
 approximately 1,500 - 2,500 people. Routine care for NCDs is based on national guidelines and
 consists of monthly in-clinic visits by primary care physicians.

 Over 9 months in 2014 and again over 6 months in 2016, CES will introduce a community health
 worker program called "Acompañantes" to its project communities to augment care of patients
 with NCDs. Acompañantes are lay health workers and members of the community who bridge the
 gap between project clinics and patients, improving understanding of NCDs, their treatments,
 and adherence to therapy. The introduction of Acompañantes to communities is planned in a
 once-every-three-months fashion, the most rapid roll-out logistically feasible for CES. The
 investigators' project will document their experience over this time, and for one year after
 introduction of the Acompañantes program to all seven study communities, by documenting
 adherence to therapy, hemoglobin a1c, and blood pressure at every-three month intervals over
 this time frame.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Formal diagnosis of Type II Diabetes Mellitus, Stage I or II Hypertension or both

 -  Daily medications required for patient's condition

 -  Residence and receipt of therapy within the study catchment area

 -  Age greater than or equal to 18 years.

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Known or suspected secondary hypertension

 -  Known or suspected Type 1 diabetes

 -  Pregnancy

 -  Chronic use of glucocorticoids.