Acceptance and challenges of the introduction of the routine community-based vitamin A supplementation strategy: the case of Burkina Faso.

OBJECTIVES: With the phase-out of the polio campaigns, Burkina Faso has developed a new strategy for routine community-based vitamin A supplementation (VAS) by institutionalising community-based health workers (CBHW) to sustain the gain of two decades of successful programming. Formative research was conducted soon after the strategy was introduced to solicit feedback on the acceptability of the new approach by the implementing actors while identifying the main implementation challenges for improving its effectiveness and sustainability. DESIGN: This qualitative study was conducted in 2018 through (i) document review, (ii) individual interviews with key informants at the central, regional and district levels, and (iii) focus groups with CBHW and caregivers. SETTING: Data collection was carried out at six levels of sites covering the entire country and selected based on VAS coverage rates with the community routine. A total of six health districts were selected. PARTICIPANTS: We conducted 46 individual interviews with health workers and 20 focus groups with 59 CBHW and 108 caregivers. RESULTS: The study showed good acceptability of the strategy by all stakeholders. In the first 2 years of implementation, the national coverage of VAS was maintained at a high level (above 90 %) and there was a reduction in operational costs. The main challenges included delayed CBHW remuneration and weak communication and supervision. CONCLUSIONS: The acceptability of the community-based routine VAS was good and was perceived to have a high potential for sustainability. Addressing identified challenges will allow us to better manage the expectations of community stakeholders and maintain the initial results.

Assessment of providers' referral decisions in rural Burkina Faso: a retrospective analysis of medical records.

BACKGROUND: A well-functioning referral system is fundamental to primary health care delivery. Understanding the providers' referral decision-making process becomes critical. This study's aim was to assess the correctness of diagnoses and appropriateness of the providers' referral decisions from health centers (HCs) to district hospitals (DHs) among patients with severe malaria and pneumonia. METHODS: A record review of twelve months of consultations was conducted covering eight randomly selected HCs to identify severe malaria (SM) cases among children under five and pneumonia cases among adults. The correctness of the diagnosis and appropriateness of providers' referral decisions were determined using the National Clinical Guidebook as a 'gold standard'. RESULTS: Among the 457 SM cases affecting children under five, only 66 cases (14.4%) were correctly diagnosed and of those 66 correctly diagnosed cases, 40 cases (60.6%) received an appropriate referral decision from their providers. Within these 66 correctly diagnosed SM cases, only 60.6% were appropriately referred. Among the adult pneumonia cases, 5.9% (79/1331) of the diagnoses were correctly diagnosed; however, the appropriateness rate of the provider's referral decision was 98.7% (78/79). There was only one case that should not have been referred but was referred. CONCLUSIONS: The adherence to the National Guidelines among the health center providers when making a diagnosis was low for both severe malaria cases and pneumonia cases. The appropriateness of the referral decisions was particularly poor for children with severe malaria. Health center providers need to be better trained in the diagnostic process and in disease management in order to improve the performance of the referral system in rural Burkina Faso.

Compliance with referral for curative care in rural Burkina Faso.

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study is to contribute to improving the functioning of the referral system in rural Burkina Faso. The main objective is to ascertain the compliance rate for referral and to identify the factors associated with successful referral. METHODS: A record review of 12 months of curative consultations in eight randomly selected health centres was conducted to identify referral cases. To assess referral compliance, all patient documents at referral hospitals from the day of the referral up to 7 days later were checked to verify whether the referred case arrived or not. Descriptive statistics were then used to compute the compliance rate. Hierarchical modelling was performed to identify patient and provider factors associated with referral compliance. RESULTS: The number of visits per person per year was 0.6 and the referral rate was 2.0%. The compliance rate was 41.5% (364/878). After adjustment, females (OR = 0.71; 95% CI = 0.52-0.98), patients referred during the rainy seasons (OR = 0.56; 95% CI = 0.40-0.78), non-emergency referrals (OR = 0.47; 95% CI = 0.34-0.65) and referrals without a referral slip (OR = 0.30; 95% CI = 0.21-0.43) were significantly less likely to comply. Children between 5 and 14 years old (OR = 0.61; 95% CI = 0.35-1.06) were at a higher risk of non-compliance, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Moreover, none of provider characteristics was statistically significantly associated with non-compliance. CONCLUSIONS In a rural district of Burkina Faso, we found a relatively low compliance with referral after the official referral system was organized in 2006. Patient characteristics were significantly associated with a failure to comply. Interventions addressing female patients' concerns, increasing referral compliance in non-emergency situations, reducing inconvenience and opportunity costs due to seasonal/climate factors, and assuring the issue of a referral slip when a referral is prescribed may effectively improve referral compliance.