Primary eye care in Rwanda: gender of service providers and other factors associated with effective service delivery

Abstract

To assess factors associated with high output of recently trained medical personnel in Rwanda. Nurses and village health workers (VHW) from all health centres in Rubavu district were included. Data were collected during focus group discussions and through one-to-one interviews. Follow-up interviews were carried out in January 2009. There was a wide range from none to all VHW referring people to a health centre. VHW brought more people to the health centre if there was a visiting ophthalmic clinical officer from the Eye Unit offering free screening. VHW output varied; male VHW brought 66.7% of patients identified (regardless of the sex of the health centre nurse), while female VHW brought 5.2 times as many people if the health centre nurse was male compared to if the nurse was female. Changes in training curriculum and support and supervision of health workers trained in primary eye care (PEC) are likely to lead to improved outputs. Information efforts should reinforce that male and female nurses have the same training and skills in PEC.