Horizon Europe Funds ComBaScale: Community Health Workers to Tackle Cardiovascular, HIV, and TB Care in Lesotho
核心洞察
The ComBaScale project, funded by Horizon Europe, will train community health workers in Lesotho to deliver integrated care for hypertension (搜索), diabetes (搜索), HIV (搜索), and tuberculosis (搜索).
A dedicated mobile app will guide community health workers through safe, up-to-date treatment decisions for cardiovascular risk factor management.
The stepped-wedge trial will evaluate cost-effectiveness and explore barriers such as stigma and gender dynamics, with community members actively shaping the programme.
The Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp has been awarded a Horizon Europe grant for ComBaScale, a project designed to empower community health workers (CHWs) in under-resourced settings to deliver integrated frontline care for hypertension (搜索), diabetes (搜索), HIV (搜索), and tuberculosis (搜索). The initiative, whose full name is "Community-Based Scale up of integrated community health worker-led cardiovascular risk factor management," will be tested across two districts in Lesotho, a low-income country facing a disproportionate and growing burden of chronic diseases.
The project will train CHWs to manage blood pressure and diabetes (搜索) in patients, layering these responsibilities onto their existing duties such as HIV (搜索) and tuberculosis (搜索) screening. A dedicated mobile application will guide the health workers through safe, evidence-based treatment decisions, ensuring quality and consistency of care at the community level.
A holistic, community-driven approach
ComBaScale goes beyond clinical intervention. The programme will rigorously evaluate cost-effectiveness and investigate potential barriers to implementation, including stigma and gender dynamics. Community members and individuals with lived experience will be actively involved in shaping the programme from the ground up. All tools, training materials, and lessons learned will ultimately be packaged into a practical toolkit designed for use across Lesotho and beyond.
The project is structured as a stepped-wedge trial and brings together nine partners spanning academic institutions, government bodies, and non-governmental organizations. Collaborators include SolidarMed, the Ministry of Health of Lesotho, the National University of Lesotho, the University of Basel, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, ITM Antwerp, the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany, and the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom. ITM's Unit of HIV (搜索) and TB will coordinate the consortium.
Addressing the convergence of chronic and infectious diseases
Lesotho exemplifies the challenge facing many low-income countries: a rising tide of non-communicable diseases layered atop persistent infectious disease burdens. By integrating cardiovascular risk factor management—specifically hypertension (搜索) and diabetes (搜索)—with established HIV (搜索) and TB services, ComBaScale aims to create a scalable model for comprehensive primary care delivery in settings with severe health workforce constraints.
The project also shares operational components with other ITM-coordinated initiatives, including the ACT4KIDS-TB consortium focused on paediatric TB diagnostics. Both efforts involve consortium coordination, study monitoring, reporting, and stakeholder engagement across multiple implementing countries.
A parallel Horizon Europe award: IMPACT
In addition to ComBaScale, ITM's Unit of Virus Ecology and Unit of Clinical Emerging Infectious Diseases have joined as partners in IMPACT ("Innovative Monoclonal antibody against Poxviruses for Advanced CounTermeasures"), another Horizon Europe-funded project. IMPACT aims to develop antibodies and antibody-derived proteins for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases with epidemic potential, including orthopoxviruses such as mpox and smallpox. European research institutions will use artificial intelligence to optimize antibodies capable of neutralizing both virus types with a single treatment, with candidates progressing through animal models and, if successful, into human clinical trials. The IMPACT consortium includes 11 institutions across Italy, Belgium, Norway, Germany, France, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, coordinated by the Italy-based Sclavo Vaccines Association (搜索) – Vaccines Against Poverty.