NIHR Global Health Research Group on collaborative care for cardiometabolic disease in Africa (CREATE)

About us

We are a group of researchers, led by University of Leicester and Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana; working together with patients and healthcare professionals from Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya and UK to support the design, delivery and feasibility of a chronic collaborative care model for cardiometabolic disease. We aim to work with our country collaborators to identify areas for capacity building to enhance research activities in their respective institutions, and promote bidirectional knowledge exchange. 

Background

African healthcare was developed to focus on infectious diseases like HIV. This means that African healthcare is not set up well to cope with non-infectious diseases becoming more common. The most common non-infectious diseases are ‘cardiometabolic diseases’. This includes heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. All of these can lead to early death. It makes sense to tackle cardiometabolic diseases together because they can be treated in similar ways. For example, losing weight and increasing exercise can help with all of them.

The aims of this Group are to develop a chronic care model to improve outcomes, and risk factor control for adults with cardiometabolic disease in Ghana, Kenya, and Mozambique. The results will be improved cardiometabolic health management for patients in these countries, with better research and community engagement in healthcare.

Themes and Work Packages

We have divided our work across four packages with two cross cutting themes. 

  • Work Package 1 (WP1):

    Determining what healthcare needs are most important to patients and health workers, identifying the barriers and facilitators to accessing care for cardiometabolic diseases.

  • Work Package 2 (WP2):

    Activities from WP1 will support the development of a care model which can be used to provide comprehensive healthcare to patients with cardiometabolic diseases.

  • Work Package 3 (WP3):

    A single-arm feasibility study involving patients, healthcare professionals, and community participants will precede the design and planning of a randomised controlled trial to test the developed model.

  • Work Package 4 (WP4):

    Implementation testing will underlie all activities in WP3 to ensure that the proposed intervention has considered local infrastructure and needs.

Themes within this project are training and capacity building, and establishing a programme of community engagement and involvement. These benefits will likely translate to substantial economic benefits for the local healthcare providers, patients, and health systems.

  • Theme 1:

    Capacity building will be tailored to develop future leaders in research in sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Theme 2:

    Community engagement will shape delivery of this research programme, maximise impact and build lasting capacity to support future research.

Our Local Sites

Further information

  • Highton PJ, Cassambai S, Jessen N, Agot GN, Hadjiconstantinou M, Davies M, Seidu S, Njoroge PK, Olenja JM, Godia P, Damasceno A. Cardiometabolic disease and multiple long-term condition healthcare provision in Sub-Saharan Africa: Opportunities for new models of care in the post-COVID era. Diabetes & metabolic syndrome. 2023 Jan;17(1):102681.

  • UK PI: Professor Kamlesh Khunti, University of Leicester

    Ghana PI: Dr Roberta Lamptey, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital

    Ghana Collaborator: Professor Alfred Yawson, University of Ghana

    Ghana Collaborator: Dr Mary Amoakoh-Coleman, University of Ghana

    Mozambique Co-PI: Professor Albertino Damesceno, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane

    Mozambique Collaborator: Professor Ana Mocumbi, Hospital Geral de Mavalane

    Mozambique Collaborator: Dr Anibal Chaque, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane

    Kenya Co-PI: Dr Pamela Miloya Godia, University of Nairobi

    Kenya Collaborator: Professor Joyce Olenja, University of Nairobi

    UK Collaborator: Dr Michelle Hadjiconstantinou, University of Leicester

    UK Collaborator: Professor Sam Seidu, University of Leicester

    UK Collaborator: Professor Melanie Davies, University of Leicester

    UK Collaborator: Dr Justin Waring, University of Birmingham

    UK Collaborator: Dr Emer Brady, University of Leicester

  • University of Leicester

    Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra Ghana

    Ghana College of Pharmacists, Accra Ghana

    University of Ghana, Accra Ghana

    University of Nairobi, Nairobi Kenya

    Mbagathi Hospital, Nairobi Kenya

    MP Shah Hospital, Nairobi Kenya

    Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo Mozambique

    Hospital Geral de Mavalane, Maputo Mozambique

Contact us.

create@uhl-tr.nhs.uk

Leicester Diabetes Centre
Leicester General Hospital
Gwendolen Rd, Leicester LE5 4PW