The iChange4Health package includes a comprehensive manual for healthcare providers, and educational and motivational materials for patients, covering topics like smoking, diet, physical activity and alcohol use.

It is intended for use by medical doctors, nurses, dieticians, nutritionists, health promoters, biokineticists and health professionals in the specialist fields of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The iChange4Health programme – the first of its kind in South Africa – is an evidence-based approach that forms a crucial part of effective interventions aimed at reducing the risk of chronic diseases of lifestyle, by way of brief behavioural change counselling. Essentially, iChange4Health seeks to empower patients to make healthier lifestyle choices via dialogue with doctors.

“The iChange4Health initiative addresses the requirements of the newly released National Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs which emphasise the need for lifestyle modification services in South Africa. Already, lifestyle-related diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks and strokes are the main reason why most people attend primary healthcare services,” says Prof Krisela Steyn, Associate Director of the CDIA. 

According to Prof Steyn, local research shows that most patients want more information about lifestyle from their healthcare providers, and trust what they say. 

Training and equipping doctors

Mariska Fouché, spokesperson for Pharma Dynamics – responsible for rolling out the programme to doctors countrywide – says they aim to train at least 250 doctors by year end.

“The strategies and tools used in BBCC do not require any significant additional investment of time and resources from a healthcare practitioner, and can easily be integrated into general clinical care,” says Fouché.

The approach is based on the ‘Five A’s’ best practice method for BBCC – Ask, Alert, Assess, Assist and Arrange. Fouché says that international research has shown that even just a few minutes of discussion in the consultation – on smoking, diet, drinking or physical activity – can help motivate patients to change their habits.

Physicians from eight Family Medicine Departments at various universities around the country have already been trained by Prof Mash and colleagues in the use of the resource package. They in turn will go on to train other GPs in the respective provinces.