Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death worldwide. The primary prevention of CVD requires behavioral lifestyle changes in terms of healthy nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation and alcohol reduction.
SPICES is a research project about Scaling-up Packages of Interventions for Cardiovascular disease prevention in selected sites in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. This project is funded by the European Commission through the Horizon2020 research and innovation action. SPICES officially started on the 1st January 2017 and will run till December 2021.
Project Aims
The aim of SPICES is to implement and evaluate a comprehensive cardiovascular diseases (CVD) prevention program in five settings:
A rural & semi-urban community in a low-income country (Uganda), middle income (South Africa) and vulnerable groups in three high-income countries (Belgium, France and United Kingdom) as well as to identify and compare the barriers and facilitators across study contexts.
Project abstract
The overall research objective of the SPICES project is to implement and evaluate a comprehensive CVD prevention and control program in five settings: a rural & semi-urban community in a low-income country (Uganda), middle income (South Africa) and vulnerable groups in three high-income countries (Belgium, France and United Kingdom) as well as to identify and compare the barriers and facilitators across study contexts. The project will be evaluated using a mix of formative assessments; pre/post and cluster randomized controlled trial designs. At the beginning of the project, we will conduct baseline assessments including literature reviews, formative studies, household surveys (where feasible) and learn lessons from other projects to understand healthcare and lifestyle practices, barriers, and facilitators. A cost-effectiveness and cost benefit analysis will be included. In addition, the teams will conduct site exchanges visits to learn from each other and organise policy dialogues to ensure sustainability and maximise impact of the interventions. The implementation outcomes — acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, feasibility, fidelity, implementation cost, coverage, and sustainability will be evaluated – in order to understand the factors affecting the implementation, the processes, and the accruing results. The intervention of the SPICES project will aim to:
- improve patients ’risk profiles (LDL-cholesterol, blood pressure, HbA1c (among patients with diabetes), modify lifestyles (diet and exercise and smoking cessation) and achieve recommended cholesterol, blood pressure and glycaemic control targets;
- increase proportion of patients receiving appropriate BP, cholesterol and diabet