A 5-year assessment of malaria documentation and reporting practices in government healthcare facilities in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Robust and effective information management systems are critical for successful malaria control and elimination. This study was a follow up study to assess the practices of Lagos State public healthcare facilities with regards to malaria documentations and reporting to the local government authorities (LGAs) in Lagos Nigeria in 2009 and then in 2013.Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional repeated survey of all 218 functional government-owned health facilities in Lagos State between in years 2009 and 2013 using a structured questionnaire. Approval was obtained from the research ethics committee of the Lagos State Ministry of Health.Results: There was a decrease in the proportion of primary & secondary healthcare facilities that document all cases of malaria seen in the facilities from 97.9% and 95.5% respectively in 2009 to 91.5% and 85.7% in 2013. About 53% of the primary healthcare facilities rendered malaria data to the Local Government Area (LGA) using the IDSR system in 2009 which marginally increase to 62.4% in 2013. Whereas in 2009, 63.6% of secondary healthcare facilities rendered malaria data to the LGA whilst 50% did in 2013. The only Tertiary health facility in the state did not render malaria data to the LGA in 2009 but did in 2013.Conclusions: There was a gradual reduction in malaria documentation by the government healthcare facilities. Therefore, there is need to intensify training among health workers in the government health facilities in the state with continuous monitoring and evaluation of performance to determine the impact.