Abstract
Background Effective case management is a vital component of malaria control and elimination strategies. However, the level of adherence to the malaria diagnostic test and treatment guideline is not known, particularly at Meatu district. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the adherence, awareness, access, and use of standard diagnosis and treatment guidelines among healthcare workers in Meatu district. Method This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, which enrolled a total of 196 healthcare workers in Meatu district. Healthcare workers were sampled purposively to reach the required sample size. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Results Generally, 189 (96.4%) were aware of malaria treatment guidelines, while 148 (75.5%) had access and 98 (50.0%) used malaria treatment guidelines. One hundred and seven (54.6%) of all the healthcare workers adhered strictly to the diagnosis and national treatment guidelines. Ten (5.1%) partially adhered to the guideline when choosing antimalarials without confirmed malaria cases. Nonadherence to the prescription of recommended antimalarial drugs and laboratory confirmation was 79 (40.3%). Conclusion Half of healthcare worker's adhere to malaria diagnostic test and treatment guidelines. Most the healthcare workers are aware of the malaria diagnostic test and treatment guidelines. Continued education and assessment of the personal attitudes towards malaria diagnostic test and treatment guidelines are recommended.
Highlights
Since 2010, the burden of malaria morbidity and mortality has been declined substantially in different parts of subSaharan Africa [1,2,3,4,5], which has been due to larger-scale control intervention programs and improved case management
All patients with suspected malaria should be treated based on accurate clinical assessment, confirming the diagnosis by microscopy or malaria rapid diagnostic test by testing blood samples before treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) [6]
Studies on adherence to malaria diagnosis and treatment guidelines among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Tanzania are limited [12]; one study reported on adherence to artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) that relied on self-report [13]. e major challenge to the implementation of adherence to malaria diagnosis and treatment guidelines has been documented to be slow in Journal of Tropical Medicine giving back information on the new drug regime at health facilities [14], and this points to lack of awareness on the availability of diagnosis and treatment guidelines
Summary
Since 2010, the burden of malaria morbidity and mortality has been declined substantially in different parts of subSaharan Africa [1,2,3,4,5], which has been due to larger-scale control intervention programs and improved case management. In some parts of Tanzania, clinical diagnosis of fever is widely used by healthcare providers [7, 8]; there is development and spread of antimalarial drug resistance [9, 10], that may have resulted due to poor adherence to standard diagnosis and treatment guidelines [11]. The level of adherence to the malaria diagnostic test and treatment guideline is not known, at Meatu district. Erefore, this study aimed at determining the adherence, awareness, access, and use of standard diagnosis and treatment guidelines among healthcare workers in Meatu district. Half of healthcare worker’s adhere to malaria diagnostic test and treatment guidelines. Most the healthcare workers are aware of the malaria diagnostic test and treatment guidelines. Continued education and assessment of the personal attitudes towards malaria diagnostic test and treatment guidelines are recommended
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