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APPROACH
- The approach to the research is based on the results of the survey that finds the following:
- a mortality surveillance system.
- disease and risk factor prevalence surveys, and a quantitative and qualitative assessment of health services.
- Low cost, evidence-based health interventions to address priority issues
BENEFITS
The research has shown that Coding of causes of death has generated useful statistics reflecting the epidemiologic transitions occurring in India. Analysis suggested that communities were likely to benefit from a cardiovascular disease prevention program. An intervention using algorithms to identify and manage adults at high risk of cardiovascular disease, provide low-cost treatment and deliver individual patient education has been designed.
RESULTS
The mortality surveillance system based on verbal autopsy has been in place since October 2003 in 45 villages. A pilot of the disease and risk factors prevalence survey was conducted among 345 randomly selected residents of two villages.
A large scale survey of 4,535 adults in 20 villages in rural Andhra Pradesh was completed in early 2005 and provided more accurate estimates of risk factors and prevalence levels of cardiovascular diseases and injury. This survey formed the baseline for RAPCAPS (Rural Andhra Pradesh Cardiovascular Prevention Study).
Implementation via a cluster randomised trial in 20 villages will commence in late 2005 following findings from the biomedical survey. The large scale survey also provided information on the main causes of non-fatal injury. Qualitative studies will further assist in refining the injury profile among adults in the study villages.
STUDENTSHIP (PhD – join research)
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