Current Projects
Elmina, Ghana
ICHA's clinical and community outreach volunteers arrived in Elmina, Ghana on September 19, to commence a three week cardiovascular disease prevention education and outreach effort. ICHA volunteer clinicians are training approximately 40 health workers at the Elmina Urban Health Centre, a local clinic that serves over 50,000 patients. The Ghana Health Service has been so excited about ICHA's program that they had arranged for staff from surrounding clinics to be bused in daily. Health workers are being taught to quantify risk of cardiovascular events, to promote stringent lifestyle modification, and to administer medications. At the same time, ICHA's community outreach volunteers are working with local community leaders to establish population-wide community initiatives including culturally appropriate campaigns for diet modification and exercise groups. Learn more about the outreach team's journey from each of our volunteers on the ICHA blog.
Program Design
ICHA’s team of physicians, public health professionals, outreach workers and educators are focused on designing an effective model for clinical health care worker training. This detailed and unique curriculum applies proven educational methods to present information through interactive workshops and didactic teaching. To pursue its goal of assisting communities in establishing grassroots initiatives for large-scale risk factor modification, ICHA’s research and development group is establishing the foundation for development of evidence-based lifestyle modification programs.
Elmina Study
ICHA is working closely with a team of researchers at UCSF to conduct a comprehensive epidemiological analysis of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in Ghana. This data will be utilized by researchers to study the short and long-term benefits of ICHA’s interventions on rates of cardiovascular disease.
India
ICHA is conducting a preliminary analysis of various sites in India with the intention of launching an ICHA initiative in south or central India in early 2010. ICHA is exploring sites in the Raichur District of Karnataka as well as Mumbai and surrounding regions.