Assessment of adherence to the National Policy on Malaria test, treat and track among public and private health facilities in Abuja Nigeria

ABSTRACT

@#Several challenges relating to the diagnosis and treatment of malaria led to the World Health Organization's (WHO) new initiative of Test, Treat and Track (T3). This study assessed adherence to the National Policy on Malaria T3 by workers in public and private hospitals in Abuja in North central Nigeria. This descriptive comparative cross-sectional study was carried out among 380 health care workers (HCW) selected using multi-stage sampling techniques. Of the 380 HCW, 206 (54.2%) and 174 (45.8%) were from the public and private health facilities respectively. Research instrument used were semi structure, self-administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed using the SPSS software version 17 .0. Sixty eight percent (140/206) of respondents from public facilities were aware of the malaria T3 policy compared to 49.4% (86/174) from the private facilities (p<0.05). In addition, 33.0% (68/206) and 29.9% (52/174) of HCW in the public and private health facilities respectively had been trained on the policy. Mean composite knowledge score of T3 policy was 23.8% for public and 27.0% for private health facilities. Using mean adherence scores, 49.4% of public and 45.0% of private facilities had good adherence to the malaria T3; a null hypothesis of no difference in their level of adherence was rejected (p 0.066). Availability of national guidelines (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.200-4.000, p 0.01) and having been trained (OR 1.5, 95% CI 0.800-2.700, p 0.220) were predictors of adherence on logistic regression. Good awareness, poor knowledge and poor practice of adherence to malaria T3 policy was concluded, with knowledge and practice being more in the public than the private health facilities. The training gap underscores the need for in-depth training of health staff holistic implementation of the malaria T3 policy in Nigeria