Quarterly Review 4 – 2020
Peer Educator Training: On 30-11-2020, 5 Peer Educators passed exam: 4 from Angkor Chey OD and 1 from Baray Santuk OD. We are exploring how to build a customized e-Learning platform for training of Peer Educators and Patients. We had 2 discussions a software company with this skill and experience.
Expansion of activity: During Q4 we set up Medical Consultation, Revolving Drug Fund and Blood-& Urine Collection service in 3 OD’s: at Svay Chrum Referral Hospital in Svay Rieng OD. We re-instated these services in Prey Kabas OD and in Koh Andaet OD in Takeo province. During meeting at Baray Santuk OD, the Health Center Kreul agreed to re-start medical consultation, following the same model as the Referral Hospital. This will be more convenient for the patients living nearby.
Working with others:
Buddhism for Health can revive its pagoda network to pay for care for poor patients with diabetes and hypertension. MoPoTsyo would need to finance the revival-process but once it runs it could turn out to be a long term solution for vulnerable chronic patients. We chose Kong Pisey OD and Angkor Chey OD and have had 2 meetings to brainstorm how it can be made to work.
NIPH: On 13 October, NIPH went to Kong Pisey to interview 12 diabetes patients on pesticide exposure (CINAC). The research is to find out if perhaps people with diabetes are more vulnerable to develop kidney disease when they use or spray pesticides.
MSF France: announced an end to our cooperation on screening and treatment Hep C. We received a quote from Center of Hope to provide treatment but it will cost the patient several hundreds of USD in user fee charges by CoH.
KOFIH (from Korea) came to visit our program to learn how it works and discuss how it can be replicated to 3 western provinces (Battambang, Pailin and Pursat) by NGO’s during a period of 5 years as part of a new NCD program. We are ready to advise and make our materials available. It strengthens the sustainability of the peer educator system if in the future other organizations are supporting it.
Another Korean group (unrelated) is interested to partner with MoPoTsyo for a 3 year behavioral change program in suburban Phnom Penh. We are discussing with them and MoH-PMD about it through zoom. First meeting was on 24 november. Second meeting on 14-12-2020. Project preparation in 2021, then 3 years implementation, funding by KOICA. Field visits planned for early 2021.
Meetings and Missions: There were more meetings to decide on the new MoH database, in which MoPoTsyo participated and informal discussions. It seems at least technically possible to link ours and theirs based on the PMRS code. Other meetings were held on IEC materials for Type 1 Diabetes, a new guideline for Diabetic Foot, one by NIPH organized to discuss Policy for integration of Diabetes care at Primary care level. The National Multisectoral Stakeholders for NCD convened in Kampong Cham for monitoring progress. Zoom meeting with NUS Singapore about our training materials On 21 October MoPoTsyo’s board convened. . On 28 October meeting of NCD Forum with the government and the Parliamentary Commission for Health about NCD situation and recommendations.25-11-2020 Cambodian NCD Alliance chaired a Zoom meeting about regional response NCD and COVID19.
Reorganisation: We hired a consultant on Accounting Management for 1. Set Up new Quickbook system for 2021 with more complete data. 2. Help us organize change from bookkeeping in USD to Riels 3. Create a link between our RDF stock movements in tablets/Riels with the accounting in QB 3. Improve efficiency of financial processes 4. Improve internal control. The financial year 2020 was closed on time to make the change using exchange rate of 31-12-2020 for new starting balance of 01-01-2021.
Internal moves: Part of Revolving Drug Fund stocks moved to the ground floor of Building C. Our Program Department moved into Building C 1st floor. Laboratory moved up to Building A’s 1st floor. We moved our stocks higher up to prevent damage from flooding in case Phnom Penh would get flooded but when flooding occurred it did not reach our district.
New MoU 2021-2024 was accepted by MoH-DIC for submission to high level MoH, including the original support letters from the 12 provincial governments. We had made edits following recommendations from MoH DIC management.
Two Scientific Publications:
On 5 October Lesley Steinman’s article “Can mHealth and eHealth improve management of diabetes and hypertension in a hard-to-reach population? —lessons learned from a process evaluation of digital health to support a peer educator model in Cambodia using the RE-AIM framework.” was published in a special issue of mHealth about “hard to reach populations” https://mhealth.amegroups.com/article/view/45860/html
On 25 December Dr Nazaneen Nikpour’s (UK) article “An innovative model for management of Cardiovascular Disease Risk factors in the low resource setting of Cambodia” was accepted for publication by “Health Policy and Planning”. For advance publication, see https://academic.oup.com/heapol/advance-article/doi/10.1093/heapol/czaa176/6048404?guestAccessKey=8c663629-fdc7-4630-b11b-0df3a8a66571. Dr Nazaneen Nikpour’s article is a follow up of an earlier article by Dr Dawn Taniguchi with findings from an earlier dataset, analysed under umbrella of the University of Washington in Seattle (USA) in PLOS.
Maurits 15 January 2021