Abstract
IntroductionEngagement and training of community health workers (CHWs) have demonstrated their value in different conditions. Despite repeat epilepsy trainings of CHWs in Northern Rwanda, the treatment gap remained high. We hypothesized that effectiveness of CHWs on mobilization of patients living with epilepsy (PwE) could be improved using a validated tool for epilepsy screening.MethodsCHWs associated with health centers (HCs) of Gataraga, Kimonyi and Karwasa attended a 1-day training on epilepsy and Limoges epilepsy screening questionnaire (Kinyarwanda version). Thereafter, CHWs screened households in their villages for persons with one or more positive answer. CHWs then accompanied positively screened persons to a consultation for clinical evaluation and diagnosis by neurologists, and demographic data were collected. CHW variables were collected retrospectively.ResultsA total of 1308 persons were screened positive by 281 CHWs. Clinical diagnosis of epilepsy was confirmed in 589 and in 93 additional unscreened PwE, presenting voluntarily at the consultation. Pre-intervention number of 48 PwE increased to 682 after, a 14.2-fold increase. The overall treatment gap amounted to 93.0%. The age distribution of male PwE preponderance at younger age inverted to females at older age.CHW characteristics showed non-significant differences within and across HCs. Logistic regression did not relate CHW age, gender, and experience to screening results.DiscussionEquipping CHWs with a validated screening tool was effective in identifying and mobilizing PwE in a short time frame and offers opportunity for future scaling. Nonetheless, barriers to sustainability of care will need to be addressed before.
Highlights
Engagement and training of community health workers (CHWs) have demonstrated their value in different conditions
We report the effectiveness of CHW engagement on screening and mobilization of patients living with epilepsy (PwE) after implementation of these measures
CHWs from outside the catchment area of the respective health centers (HCs) accounted for 12% (38/319)
Summary
Engagement and training of community health workers (CHWs) have demonstrated their value in different conditions. Despite repeat epilepsy trainings of CHWs in Northern Rwanda, the treatment gap remained high. In 2005, the national epilepsy prevalence in Rwanda was estimated at 49.3 per thousand with. Sebera et al Human Resources for Health (2022) 20:10 higher prevalence in rural areas. In 2017, a prevalence of 47.7 per thousand was observed in rural villages in the Northern province [3, 4]. The treatment gap in this region amounted to 91.5%, applying the ILAE treatment gap definition encompassing diagnostic and therapeutic deficits [5, 6]. Leading causes of the epilepsy treatment gap include limited access to treatment, lack of primary trained health workers, social stigma, misinformation, and traditional beliefs [6]
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