Cardiovascular risk in Sierra Leone – addressing the burden and barriers (360G-Wellcome-209921_Z_17_Z)

As it recovers from civil war and Ebola, gross domestic product in Sierra Leone is increasing1. This is likely to be accompanied by an increasing burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors (RF) with consequent macro- and micro-vascular disease outcomes, as has been seen elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.2 Although global studies2-9 estimate prevalence, morbidity, and mortality from CVDRF, nothing is known about the actual burden of CVDRF, provision of care, and barriers to accessing care in the country. This knowledge is essential for designing and implementing cost-effective, equitable interventions to manage CVDRF and mitigate future impacts on individuals, the health system, and the economy, and to enable achievement of Universal Health Coverage. Sierra Leone’s fragile health system makes early intervention for prevention of relatively costly future macro and microvascular outcomes paramout.10 To enable planning of large-scale intervention studies, our key goals for this proposal are to ascertain the burden and correlates of CVDRF in Sierra Leone; estimate 10-year outcomes and costs of mitigating these with early management of RF; and to map potential intervention points by ascertaining a) the barriers to access of care and b) knowledge and attitudes around CVD risk factors amongst the public and providers.