Assessing Village Health Workers’ Ability to Perform and Interpret Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Malaria 4 Years after Initial Training: A Cross-Sectional Study
![Thumbnail](/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/2425/Assessing%20Village%20Health%20Workers%e2%80%99%20Ability%20to%20Perform%20and%20Interpret%20Rapid%20Diagnostic%20Tests%20for%20Malaria%204%20Years%20after%20Initial%20Training-a%20Cross-Sectional%20Study.pdf.jpg?sequence=4&isAllowed=y)
View/ Open
Date
2021Author
Miller, James S.
Mbusa, Rapheal Kisolhu
Baguma, Stephen
Patel, Palka
Matte, Michael
Ntaro, Moses
Bwambale, Shem
Kenney, Jessica
Guiles, Daniel
Mulogo, Edgar Mugema
Stone, Geren S.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Village health workers (VHWs) in Bugoye subcounty, Uganda, provide integrated community case management (iCCM) care to children younger than 5 years for malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea. We assessed the longevity of VHWs’ skills in performing and reading malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) 4 years after initial training, comparing VHWs who had completed initial iCCM training 1 year before the study with VHWs who had completed training 4 years before the study. Both groups received quarterly refresher trainings. Trained interviewers observed 36 VHWs reading six mock RDTs each and performing an RDT as part of a larger skills assessment exercise. VHWs read 97% of mock RDTs correctly; of the 36 VHWs, 86% read all six mock RDTs correctly. Most VHWs scored either 12/13 or 13/13 on the RDT checklist (39% and 36%, respectively), with 25% scoring 11/13 or lower. For reading mock RDTs, VHWs in the first group (initial training 4 years before study) read 97% of mock RDTs correctly, whereas those in the second group (initial training 1 year before study) read 96% of mock RDTs correctly; the first group had a mean of 5.83 RDTs read correctly, compared with 5.77 RDTs read correctly in the second group (P = 0.83). For performing an RDT, the first group completed a mean of 12.0 steps correctly, compared with a mean of 12.2 correct steps in the second group (P = 0.60). Overall, VHWs demonstrated proficiency in reading RDTs accurately and performing RDTs according to protocol at least 4 years after initial iCCM training.
Collections
- Research Articles [432]