Monday, May 19, 2025
5/19/2025
Chagas Education for Essential Providers (INSECT) - In the United States, at least 300,000 people are infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease (CD). The most pressing issues from a public health perspective are congenital transmission, chronic disease leading to cardiac and, less commonly, gastrointestinal complications, and a lack of awareness about CD among both healthcare providers and at-risk populations. We propose implementing a targeted approach to increasing healthcare provider awareness and improving screening programs, particularly for congenital CD. We will model new programs on Strong Hearts, the highly successful Boston area community-based screening program for which we have been partners. Over the past few years, we have screened over 6000 individuals for CD and treated more than 60 patients. First, we will implement an additional screening program locally at a second site in Massachusetts that has a large Brazilian community; we will then capitalize on existing relationships to execute the program in selected areas across the country where there are large numbers of at-risk patients (including Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC). At each site, we will identify Chagas Champions, individuals who are invested in the program and are tied to the medical infrastructure. At each site, this individual will help implement the screening program, serve as a point of contact locally for questions, and help disseminate messaging to healthcare providers within their region. The team will also use a more generalized approach to improve education for healthcare providers across the country, initially informed by focus group discussions with providers (to identify those processes felt to be the most acceptable). These activities will include webinars, a 6-week case series, pre-conference workshops, development of a Twitter account to highlight key literature and information, and a range of other activities. We also aim to engage public health departments – first within Massachusetts and then in those areas where we are implementing the targeted approach to increase screening. We have a close partnership with our state health department and will help develop material relevant for their activities and for other health departments nationally. Lastly, we will utilize our connections to screening sites and our local Chagas Champions to deliver educational materials to at-risk communities through presentations at churches and community centers. We will also develop written educational materials as well as pictorial materials for low-literacy persons. Our study team consists of Dr. Hochberg, Ms. Carrion, and Dr. Hamer - individuals with long-standing commitment to educating healthcare providers about CD, working with disadvantaged migrant populations, connections to local and national partners, experience with administrations of large projects, oversight of budgets, and an understanding of community engagement and utilization of culturally acceptable materials. In sum, this proposal will build on the work already done by the CDC and partners by making use of existing experience with a successful CD screening program to implement screening in several high-prevalence sites and increase healthcare provider and community awareness and knowledge more broadly.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).