Adherence to national malaria clinical management and testing guidelines in selected private clinics of Gambela Town, Gambela Region, Ethiopia: a mixed method study.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization World Malaria Report of 2019 indicated an estimated 228 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide in 2018. More than 75% of the total area of Ethiopia is malarious, making malaria a leading public health problem in Ethiopia. Adherence to clinical guidelines improves the quality of care received by patients, thus improving patient outcomes. This study investigates healthcare workers' adherence to malaria testing and treatment guidelines in selected private clinics of Gambela Town, Ethiopia. METHODS: A mixed study design involving a retrospective review of 425 patient files and 20 healthcare worker interviews in private clinics was implemented. Data were collected using pre-tested data collection forms. The collected data were then cleaned and entered into statistical software for analysis, with a level of significance set at < 0.05. A qualitative analysis was also conducted using healthcare worker interviews to identify the existing barriers to guideline adherence. RESULTS: Among the 430 cases of suspected malaria, only 65% were tested for malaria. Of those tested, 75% tested positive and 25% tested negative. The most common co-morbidity in patients treated for malaria was anaemia (30%), followed by gastroenteritis (10%). Patients with co-morbidities were more likely to receive appropriate treatment (p = 0.03) compared to those without co-morbidities. All healthcare workers interviewed were aware of the existence of the malaria treatment guidelines. However, many were not aware of the contents of the guidelines and only 40% had been trained to understand the guidelines. Overall, 85% of the workers claimed to adhere to guidelines, with 15% claiming non-adherence. CONCLUSION: The gap between knowledge of the malaria treatment guidelines and their application by healthcare workers remains wide. The level of knowledge of these guidelines was also low. Continuous training, follow-up, supportive supervision, and improved adherence to the malaria guidelines are therefore recommended.

Burden and seasonality of medically attended influenza like illness (ILI) in Ethiopia, 2012 to 2017.

BACKGROUND: The influenza virus spreads rapidly around the world in seasonal epidemics, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Influenza-related incidence data are limited in many countries in Africa despite established sentinel surveillance. This study aimed to address the information gap by estimating the burden and seasonality of medically attended influenza like illness in Ethiopia. METHOD: Influenza sentinel surveillance data collected from 3 influenza like illness (ILI) and 5 Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) sites from 2012 to 2017 was used for analysis. Descriptive statistics were applied for simple analysis. The proportion of medically attended influenza positive cases and incidence rate of ILI was determined using total admitted patients and catchment area population. Seasonality was estimated based on weekly trend of ILI and predicted threshold was done by applying the "Moving Epidemic Method (MEM)". RESULT: A total of 5715 medically attended influenza suspected patients who fulfills ILI and SARI case definition (77% ILI and 23% SARI) was enrolled. Laboratory confirmed influenza virus (influenza positive case) among ILI and SARI suspected case was 25% (1130/4426) and 3% (36/1289). Of which, 65% were influenza type A. The predominantly circulating influenza subtype were seasonal influenza A(H3N2) (n = 455, 60%) and Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 (n = 293, 38.81%). The estimated mean annual influenza positive case proportion and ILI incidence rate was 160.04 and 52.48 per 100,000 population. The Incidence rate of ILI was higher in the age group of 15-44 years of age ['Incidence rate (R) = 254.6 per 100,000 population', 95% CI; 173.65, 335.55] and 5-14 years of age [R = 49.5, CI 95%; 31.47, 130.43]. The seasonality of influenza has two peak seasons; in a period from October-December and from April-June. CONCLUSION: Significant morbidity of influenza like illness was observed with two peak seasons of the year and seasonal influenza A (H3N2) remains the predominantly circulating influenza subtype. Further study need to be considered to identify potential risks and improving the surveillance system to continue early detection and monitoring of circulating influenza virus in the country has paramount importance.

Epidemiology of influenza in Ethiopia: findings from influenza sentinel surveillance and respiratory infection outbreak investigations, 2009-2015.

BACKGROUND: Influenza is an acute viral disease of the respiratory tract which is characterized by fever, headache, myalgia, prostration, coryza, sore throat and cough. Globally, an estimated 3 to 5 million cases of severe influenza illness and 291 243-645 832 seasonal influenza-associated respiratory deaths occur annually. Although recent efforts from some African countries to describe burden of influenza disease and seasonality, these data are missing for the vast majority, including Ethiopia. Ethiopia established influenza sentinel surveillance in 2008 aiming to determine influenza strains circulating in the country and know characteristics, trend and burden of influenza viruses. METHODS: We used influenza data from sentinel surveillance sites and respiratory disease outbreak investigations from 2009 to 2015 for this analysis. We obtained the data by monitoring patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) at three health-centers, severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) at five hospitals and investigating patients during different respiratory infection outbreaks. Throat-swab specimens in viral transport media were transported to the national reference laboratory within 72 h of collection using a cold-chain system. We extracted viral RNA from throat-swabs and subjected to real-time PCR amplification. We further subtyped and characterized Influenza A-positive specimens using CDC real-time reverse transcription PCR protocol. RESULTS: A total of 4962 throat-swab samples were collected and 4799 (96.7%) of them were tested. Among them 988 (20.6%) were influenza-positive and of which 349 (35.3%) were seasonal influenza A(H3N2), 321 (32.5%) influenza A(H1N1)pdm2009 and 318 (32.0%) influenza B. Positivity rate was 29.5% in persons 5-14 years followed by 26.4% in 15-44 years, 21.2% in > 44 years and 6.4% in under five children. The highest positivity rate observed in November (37.5%) followed by March (27.6%), December (26.4%), October (24.4%) and January (24.3%) while the lowest positivity rate was in August (7.7%). CONCLUSION: In Ethiopia, seasonal Influenza A(H3N2), Influenza A(H1N1)pdm2009 and Influenza B viruses were circulating during 2009-2015. Positivity rate and number of cases peaked in November and December. Influenza is one of public health problems in Ethiopia and the need to introduce influenza vaccine and antivirus is important to prevent and treat the disease in future.

Challenges of establishing routine influenza sentinel surveillance in Ethiopia, 2008-2010.

Ethiopia launched influenza surveillance in November 2008. By October 2010, 176 patients evaluated at 5 sentinel health facilities in Addis Ababa met case definitions for influenza-like illness or severe acute respiratory illness (SARI). Most patients (131 [74%]) were children aged 0-4 years. Twelve patients (7%) were positive for influenza virus. Most patients (109 [93%]) were aged <5 years, of whom only 3 (2.8%) had laboratory-confirmed influenza. Low awareness of influenza by healthcare workers, misperceptions regarding case definitions, and insufficient human resources at sites could have potentially led to many missed cases, resulting in suboptimal surveillance.