‘NIVARAN’ project, aims to identify at-risk population for CVD and reduce the economic burden of hospitalisation due to CVD ailments in the tea tribes of Assam, with the help of cost-effective, non-laboratory-based risk assessment screening tool and interventional strategies in the identified risk groups.
The study intends to screen all the individuals of age 30 years and above from the selected tea estates spread over 5 chosen districts of Upper Assam- Jorhat, Golaghat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, and Tinsukia.
The study will be conducted in three phases – baseline assessment (where all the participants will be screened for prevalence of self-reported CVD, hypertension, and diabetes), screening phase (in this phase participants’ 10-year risk for developing CVD will be assessed using non-invasive tools). In the third phase individuals having high risk will be provided with confirmatory blood tests for lipids and sugars and will be referred for appropriate management like medications for the disease, to district health facilities. Similarly, moderate risk participants will be referred for lifestyle modification related counselling to health facilities.
The administrative approval and support have been received from the Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of Assam and stakeholder liaisoning and engagements have been done at the field, including the district health officials, tea estate officials, tea hospital management, and community members.
This screening will facilitate the early warning signal and its management and help in prevention of fatal and non-fatal CVD events.
According to the preliminary findings, the prevalence of risk factors like hypertension is quite high in the community and awareness regarding the importance of treatment and prompt management needs attention. Similarly, the high consumption of salt in the diet, alcohol and tobacco chewing requires behaviour change communication.
Health education and awareness generation activities will be conducted for health promotion and well-being.
