Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract NACNDC/19JASH058 (Poster) | Published: 07 Dec 2025
Wamala Nicholas Kisaakye1
1Infectious Diseases Institute, Kampala, Uganda
&Corresponding author: Wamala Nicholas Kisaakye, Infectious Diseases Institute, Kampala, Uganda Email: nicholaskw6@gmail.com, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4852-8165
Received: 11 Sep 2025, Accepted: 20 Oct 2025, Published: 07 Dec 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Hypertension, screening, community health workers
©Wamala Nicholas Kisaakye. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Wamala Nicholas Kisaakye. Utilization of community health workers on diagnosis of hypertension among people living with HIV in West Nile: An implementation research. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc6):058. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO6-00058
Hypertension is an emerging non-communicable comorbidity among people living with HIV(PLHIV). In Uganda, the prevalence of hypertension among PLHIV on ART is estimated at 29%, with older age, high BMI, ART use, and male gender being key risk factors. Despite this burden, up to 79% of hypertensive PLHIV remain undiagnosed and 85% untreated. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and treatment rate of hypertension among PLHIV in West Nile, Uganda, between April and June 2025.
An implementation research approach was used. A five-day joint training in non-communicable disease (NCD) management was conducted for two Community Health Workers (CHWs) at facility level. WHO-calibrated Yuwell Electronic Blood Pressure Monitors (Model YE620B) were distributed, and CHWs were trained to perform hypertension screening. All PLHIV ≥15 years attending chronic care clinics were screened. Hypertension was diagnosed after two consecutive abnormal readings (>140/90 mmHg). Data were recorded in electronic medical records and patient cards, and analyzed in Excel.
A total of 33,842 PLHIV were screened; the majority were female (22,095). The largest subgroup was from Nebbi District (6,463) and aged 40-44 years (5,270). Hypertension was diagnosed in 820 clients, corresponding to a prevalence of 2.4%. Of these, 63% (513/820) were initiated on antihypertensive treatment.
This study demonstrates that basic CHW training combined with provision of WHO-standard equipment can effectively support hypertension screening and diagnosis among PLHIV, with 2.4% prevalence identified and majority of diagnosed clients initiated on treatment. Referral pathways to clinicians ensured confirmatory diagnosis and therapy initiation. Sustainability requires consistent supply of functioning digital blood pressure devices and batteries, and scale up by integration of hypertension screening into community outreach services.
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