Readiness of the Kenyan public health sector to provide pre-referral care for severe paediatric malaria.
Trop Med Int Health
; 27(3): 330-336, 2022 03.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1968203
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To assess readiness among primary public health facilities in Kenya to provide pre-referral antimalarials for severe malaria.METHODS:
Nine national surveys of randomly selected primary public health facilities undertaken bi-annually between 2017 and 2021 were analysed. The outcomes included the availability of pre-referral antimalarial drugs at the health facilities and health worker knowledge of recommended pre-referral treatment for severe malaria.RESULTS:
A total of 1540 health workers from 1355 health facilities were interviewed. Injectable artesunate was available at 46%, injectable quinine at 7%, and artemether at 3% of the health facilities. None of the facilities had rectal artesunate suppositories in stock. A total of 960 (62%) health workers were trained on the use of injectable artesunate. 73% of the health workers who had ever referred a child with severe malaria were aware that artesunate was the recommended treatment, 49% said that intramuscular injection was the preferred route of administration, and 60% stated the correct dose. The overall knowledge level of the treatment policy was low at 21% and only slightly higher among trained than untrained health workers (24% vs 14%; p < 0.001) and those with access to guidelines versus those without access (29% vs 17%; p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS:
The readiness of primary health facilities and health workers to deliver appropriate pre-referral care to children with complicated malaria in Kenya is inadequate. Further investments are required to ensure (a) availability of nationally recommended pre-referral antimalarials; (b) appropriate training and supervision in their administration, and (c) monitoring of the entire referral process.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Malaria
/
Antimalarials
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
English
Journal:
Trop Med Int Health
Journal subject:
Tropical Medicine
/
Public Health
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Tmi.13728
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