Cardiovascular Program

Project Overview

Purpose of the project is to strengthen the clinical discipline of Cardiovascular Medicine in Zambia by promoting training, mentorship, research and networking through GAZHP led partnerships.

Preamble:

Cardiovascular diseases are included among the leading causes of death worldwide accounting for more than 80% of all premature non communicable disease (NCD) deaths. A total of 17.9 million deaths annually. There has been a surge in the burden of NCDs in sub-Sahara Africa over the past 2 decades driven by increasing incidence of cardiovascular risk factors ie unhealthy diet, reduced physical activity, hypertension, obesity, diabetes dyslipidemia and air pollution. NCDs are set to overtake communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases combined as leading causes of mortality in Sub -Sahara Africa by 2030 (1).Cardiovascular diseases account for 8%of the mortality in Zambia, accompanied by high morbidity as well (2). On the paediatric side, considering that one in every 100 children are born with heart defects world over and that 650,000 babies are born annually in Zambia(3) about 600 babies are born with heart defects per year. This is in addition to the acquired heart disease that afflict children which is mostly Rheumatic heart disease.

Progress in implementing comprehensive NCDs strategies and policies have been hampered by fragmented scarce and lack of resources. These factors represent a major barrier in the attainment of SDG goals 1,2 and 3. There’ s currently no robust cardiology/ cardiovascular programs in Zambia. A lot of cardiac patients depend on travelling abroad to get consultations, investigations and treatment at great cost to the patient and to the country.

Sources:

  1. Lancet GlobalHealth 2019;7:e1375-e1387
  2. TateyamaY, Musumari PM,Techasrivichien T,Suguimoto SP, Zulu R,Dube C,et al.(2019) Dietary habits, body image and health service access realtedto cardiovascular diseases in rural Zambia: A qualitativestudy. PLoS ONE 14(2):e 0212739
  3. https://zambia.opendataforafrica.org/kvfbjpd/annual- number-of-births

Our Approach

Objectives

  1. Help bridge the man power gap by providing highly skilled Cardiovascular professionals based outside the country to collaborate with local Specialists and get them involved in the provision of high-quality cardiac care to the population.
  2. Provide technical support in the creation of registries for various cardiac conditions both at the Children’s and adult hospitals.
  3. Use new technologies such as telemedicine and internet cloud based platforms to enhance remote reading of cardiac tests.
  4. Develop specialized Cardiac clinics and programs such as Cardiovascular risk factor management clinic, Heart Failure Clinics (covering both paediatrics and Adult cardiac patients), Pulmonary Hypertension clinics and Cardiac rehabilitation programs.
  5. Liase with the health professionals Council and health insurers to find ways of enabling CV experts to bill for telemedicine consultations.
  6. Participate in the training of medical students, post graduate students and allied professional trainees in Cardiovascular Medicine.
  7. Help smoothen the process of accreditation and registration of qualified diaspora- based Cardiac professionals with the Health Professions Council of Zambia.
  8. Facilitate mission trips for International Cardiovascular professionals who may wish to go to Zambia to provide services probono
  9. Finally develop a robust Cardio vascular program with the ability to perform more advanced invasive procedures in a state -of -the art facility to be built in future which will enhance colloboration with local and international Cardiovascular institutions in the exchange of knowledge, transfer of skills, research and training.

Success Measures

Objective 1:Number of CV experts actively involved in the care of patients in Zambia as a direct effect of our program
Objective 2:Creation of registries of Cardiac patients in both adult and Paediatric age groups
Objective 3:Number of patients assessed remotely using Telemedicine via vitalengine
Objective 4: When atleast one of the Specialised clinics is operational.
Objective 5 : When billing for telemedicine consultations are in effect.
Objective 6: Number of Student or trainees that received training from GAZHAP CV experts
Objective 7 :All registrable CV Specialists in GAZHP are registered by the HPCZ
Objective:8 Number of CV mission trips facilitated or collaborated with GAZHP CV project
Objective 9. When the robust CV program is fully operational in Zambia (with 90% of CV procedures being done locally)

The broad project is long term spanning several years while some of the sub projects ie remote support with Morning Star clinic and CV experts from Virginia should begin within 1 month. The rest will be 1 to 2 years with 6 month reviews.

The Team

A group of Cardiac specialists with the following core members:

 

Dr David Gordon Kazhila

General Cardiologist/ Internal Medicine Specialist, Lindsay, Ontario, Canada.

— Project Lead

Dr Sula Mazimba

 General Cardiologist. Co- Director, Pumonary Hypertension Program University of Virginia, Virginia USA.

Dr Lorrita Kabwe

Interventional Cardiologist, Head Cathlab/Adult Cardiology, University Teaching hospitals, Lusaka, Zambia

Dr Sebastian Chibale Benaya

General Cardiologist/ internal medicine Specialist, ( Fredericton New Brunswick, Canada

Dr Victor Mwansa

Interventional Cardiologist/ Chief of Cardiology, Heart land Regional Medical centre, Marion Illinois, USA

Dr Agnes Mtaja

Paediatric Cardiologist/ Head Paediatric Cardiology, University teaching hospitals ,Lusaka, Zambia

Dr Chishala Chishala

General Cardiologist, Cape Town, South Africa

Dr Chileshe Mutema

Cardiovascular Surgeon, Head Cardiac Surgery, University teaching hospitals, Lusaka, Zambia