Impact of Improving Community-Based Access to Malaria Diagnosis and Treatment on Household Costs.

BACKGROUND: Community health workers (CHWs) were trained in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Uganda to diagnose febrile children using malaria rapid diagnostic tests, and treat positive malaria cases with artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) and those who could not take oral medicines with rectal artesunate. We quantified the impact of this intervention on private household costs for childhood febrile illness. METHODS: Households with recent febrile illness in a young child in previous 2 weeks were selected randomly before and during the intervention and data obtained on household costs for the illness episode. Household costs included consultation fees, registration costs, user fees, diagnosis, bed, drugs, food, and transport costs. Private household costs per episode before and during the intervention were compared. The intervention's impact on household costs per episode was calculated and projected to districtwide impacts on household costs. RESULTS: Use of CHWs increased from 35% of illness episodes before the intervention to 50% during the intervention (P < .0001), and total household costs per episode decreased significantly in each country: from US Dollars (USD) $4.36 to USD $1.54 in Burkina Faso, from USD $3.90 to USD $2.04 in Nigeria, and from USD $4.46 to USD $1.42 in Uganda (all P < .0001). There was no difference in the time used by the child's caregiver to care for a sick child (59% before intervention vs 51% during intervention spent ≤2 days). Using the most recent population figures for each study district, we estimate that the intervention could save households a total of USD $29 965, USD $254 268, and USD $303 467, respectively, in the study districts in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Uganda. CONCLUSIONS: Improving access to malaria diagnostics and treatments in malaria-endemic areas substantially reduces private household costs. The key challenge is to develop and strengthen community human resources to deliver the intervention, and ensure adequate supplies of commodities and supervision. We demonstrate feasibility and benefit to populations living in difficult circumstances. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: ISRCTN13858170.

Local fever illness classifications: implications for home management of malaria strategies.

BACKGROUND: The Ugandan Ministry of Health has adopted the WHO Home Based Fever Management strategy (HBM) to improve access to antimalarial drugs for prompt (<24 h) presumptive treatment of all fevers in children under 5 years. Village volunteers will distribute pre-packed antimalarials free of charge to caretakers of febrile children 2 months to 5 years ('Homapaks'). OBJECTIVE: To explore the local understanding and treatment practices for childhood fever illnesses and discuss implications for the HBM strategy. METHODS: Focus Group Discussions were held with child caretakers in three rural communities in Kasese district, West Uganda, and analysed for content in respect to local illness classifications and associated treatments for childhood fevers. RESULTS: Local understanding of fever illnesses and associated treatments was complex. Some fever illness classifications were more commonly mentioned, including 'Fever of Mosquito', 'Chest Problem', 'the Disease', 'Stomach Wounds' and 'Jerks', all of which could be biomedical malaria. Although caretakers refer to all these classifications as 'fever' treatment differed; some were seen as requiring urgent professional western treatment and others were considered severe but 'non-western' and would preferentially be treated with traditional remedies. CONCLUSIONS: The HBM strategy does not address local community understanding of 'fever' and its influence on treatment. While HBM improves drug access, Homapaks are likely to be used for only those fevers where 'western' treatment is perceived appropriate, implying continued delayed and under-treatment of potential malaria. Hence, HBM strategies also need to address local perceptions of febrile illness and adapt information and training material accordingly.

Coping with paediatric referral--Ugandan parents' experience.

Referral of severely ill children to hospital is key in the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI). In rural Uganda, we documented the caretakers' ability to complete referral to hospital from 12 health facilities. Of 227 children, only 63 (28%) had completed referral after 2 weeks, at a median cost of 8.85 US dollars (range 0.40-89.00). Failure to attend hospital resulted from lack of money (139 children, 90%), transport problems (39, 26%), and responsibilities at home (26, 17%). Children with incomplete referral continued treatment at referring health centres (87, 54%) or in the private sector (45, 28%). Our results show that cost of referral must decrease to make paediatric referral realistic. When referral is difficult, more specific IMCI referral criteria should be used and first-level health workers should be empowered to manage severely ill children.

Management of severely ill children at first-level health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa when referral is difficult.

OBJECTIVES: To quantify the main reasons for referral of infants and children from first-level health facilities to referral hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa and to determine what further supplies, equipment, and legal empowerment might be needed to manage such children when referral is difficult. METHODS: In an observational study at first-level health facilities in Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Niger, over 3-5 months, we prospectively documented the diagnoses and severity of diseases in children using the standardized Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) guidelines. We reviewed the facilities for supplies and equipment and examined the legal constraints of health personnel working at these facilities. FINDINGS: We studied 7195 children aged 2-59 months, of whom 691 (9.6%) were classified under a severe IMCI classification that required urgent referral to a hospital. Overall, 226 children had general danger signs, 292 had severe pneumonia or very severe disease, 104 were severely dehydrated, 31 had severe persistent diarrhoea, 207 were severely malnourished, and 98 had severe anaemia. Considerably more ill were 415 young infants aged one week to two months: nearly three-quarters of these required referral. Legal constraints and a lack of simple equipment (suction pumps, nebulizers, and oxygen concentrators) and supplies (nasogastric tubes and 50% glucose) could prevent health workers from dealing more appropriately with sick children when referral was not possible. CONCLUSION: When referral is difficult or impossible, some additional supplies and equipment, as well as provision of simple guidelines, may improve management of seriously ill infants and children.