State of Play of the Use of Children’s Health Booklets in Cameroon according to Child Health Professionals

Abstract

Introduction: The Child health booklet has been shown to be an essential tool for monitoring the implementation of interventions with a high impact on reducing infant and child mortality. Objective: To describe the opinion of child health providers about child health records. Methodology: Cross-sectional survey of health professionals on content, ease of use and recommendations for a health record of the ideal child. Results: About 3/4 (75%) of participants considered medical follow-up useful and 91.5% wanted it to be conducted at all levels of health care. According to 93% of them, all health care providers should be involved. However, almost two-thirds (65.5%) had never been trained to use the child’s health record. About half (54.2%) of them had already seen the national manual and only 43.7% had ever filled it out, 82.2% of whom found it very difficult. With regards to the assessment of the content, 44.4% to 57.7% of respondents were dissatisfied with 12 of the 16 subheadings of the handbook. As for an ideal child health record, the majority recommended that it should contain indicators related to: childbirth, growth, monitoring of preventive activities and advice to parents. Conclusion: Child health booklets available in health facilities in Cameroon are not optimally used to reduce infant and child morbidity and mortality. It is important to review the content of the child’s health booklets in order to adapt it to the Cameroonian context.