Improving community health worker treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in Uganda through inSCALE community and mHealth innovations: A cluster randomised controlled trial.
The inSCALE cluster randomised controlled trial in Uganda evaluated two interventions, mHealth and Village Health Clubs (VHCs) which aimed to improve Community Health Worker (CHW) treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia within the national Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) programm...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-06-01
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| Series: | PLOS Digital Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000217 |
| _version_ | 1797695915367071744 |
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| author | Karin Källander Seyi Soremekun Daniel Ll Strachan Zelee Hill Frida Kasteng Edmound Kertho Agnes Nanyonjo Guus Ten Asbroek Maureen Nakirunda Patrick Lumumba Godfrey Ayebale Benson Bagorogoza Anna Vassall Sylvia Meek James Tibenderana Raghu Lingam Betty Kirkwood |
| author_facet | Karin Källander Seyi Soremekun Daniel Ll Strachan Zelee Hill Frida Kasteng Edmound Kertho Agnes Nanyonjo Guus Ten Asbroek Maureen Nakirunda Patrick Lumumba Godfrey Ayebale Benson Bagorogoza Anna Vassall Sylvia Meek James Tibenderana Raghu Lingam Betty Kirkwood |
| author_sort | Karin Källander |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The inSCALE cluster randomised controlled trial in Uganda evaluated two interventions, mHealth and Village Health Clubs (VHCs) which aimed to improve Community Health Worker (CHW) treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia within the national Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) programme. The interventions were compared with standard care in a control arm. In a cluster randomised trial, 39 sub-counties in Midwest Uganda, covering 3167 CHWs, were randomly allocated to mHealth; VHC or usual care (control) arms. Household surveys captured parent-reported child illness, care seeking and treatment practices. Intention-to-treat analysis estimated the proportion of appropriately treated children with malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia according to WHO informed national guidelines. The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01972321). Between April-June 2014, 7679 households were surveyed; 2806 children were found with malaria, diarrhoea, or pneumonia symptoms in the last one month. Appropriate treatment was 11% higher in the mHealth compared to the control arm (risk ratio [RR] 1.11, 95% CI 1.02, 1.21; p = 0.018). The largest effect was on appropriate treatment for diarrhoea (RR 1.39; 95% CI 0.90, 2.15; p = 0.134). The VHC intervention increased appropriate treatment by 9% (RR 1.09; 95% CI 1.01, 1.18; p = 0.059), again with largest effect on treatment of diarrhoea (RR 1.56, 95% CI 1.04, 2.34, p = 0.030). CHWs provided the highest levels of appropriate treatment compared to other providers. However, improvements in appropriate treatment were observed at health facilities and pharmacies, with CHW appropriate treatment the same across the arms. The rate of CHW attrition in both intervention arms was less than half that of the control arm; adjusted risk difference mHealth arm -4.42% (95% CI -8.54, -0.29, p = 0.037) and VHC arm -4.75% (95% CI -8.74, -0.76, p = 0.021). Appropriate treatment by CHWs was encouragingly high across arms. The inSCALE mHealth and VHC interventions have the potential to reduce CHW attrition and improve the care quality for sick children, but not through improved CHW management as we had hypothesised. Trial Registration:ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01972321). |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:18:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-79e9f6733e5d498bb7d5266f64b1906a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2767-3170 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:18:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLOS Digital Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-79e9f6733e5d498bb7d5266f64b1906a2023-09-03T14:07:07ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLOS Digital Health2767-31702023-06-0126e000021710.1371/journal.pdig.0000217Improving community health worker treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in Uganda through inSCALE community and mHealth innovations: A cluster randomised controlled trial.Karin KällanderSeyi SoremekunDaniel Ll StrachanZelee HillFrida KastengEdmound KerthoAgnes NanyonjoGuus Ten AsbroekMaureen NakirundaPatrick LumumbaGodfrey AyebaleBenson BagorogozaAnna VassallSylvia MeekJames TibenderanaRaghu LingamBetty KirkwoodThe inSCALE cluster randomised controlled trial in Uganda evaluated two interventions, mHealth and Village Health Clubs (VHCs) which aimed to improve Community Health Worker (CHW) treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia within the national Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) programme. The interventions were compared with standard care in a control arm. In a cluster randomised trial, 39 sub-counties in Midwest Uganda, covering 3167 CHWs, were randomly allocated to mHealth; VHC or usual care (control) arms. Household surveys captured parent-reported child illness, care seeking and treatment practices. Intention-to-treat analysis estimated the proportion of appropriately treated children with malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia according to WHO informed national guidelines. The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01972321). Between April-June 2014, 7679 households were surveyed; 2806 children were found with malaria, diarrhoea, or pneumonia symptoms in the last one month. Appropriate treatment was 11% higher in the mHealth compared to the control arm (risk ratio [RR] 1.11, 95% CI 1.02, 1.21; p = 0.018). The largest effect was on appropriate treatment for diarrhoea (RR 1.39; 95% CI 0.90, 2.15; p = 0.134). The VHC intervention increased appropriate treatment by 9% (RR 1.09; 95% CI 1.01, 1.18; p = 0.059), again with largest effect on treatment of diarrhoea (RR 1.56, 95% CI 1.04, 2.34, p = 0.030). CHWs provided the highest levels of appropriate treatment compared to other providers. However, improvements in appropriate treatment were observed at health facilities and pharmacies, with CHW appropriate treatment the same across the arms. The rate of CHW attrition in both intervention arms was less than half that of the control arm; adjusted risk difference mHealth arm -4.42% (95% CI -8.54, -0.29, p = 0.037) and VHC arm -4.75% (95% CI -8.74, -0.76, p = 0.021). Appropriate treatment by CHWs was encouragingly high across arms. The inSCALE mHealth and VHC interventions have the potential to reduce CHW attrition and improve the care quality for sick children, but not through improved CHW management as we had hypothesised. Trial Registration:ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01972321).https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000217 |
| spellingShingle | Karin Källander Seyi Soremekun Daniel Ll Strachan Zelee Hill Frida Kasteng Edmound Kertho Agnes Nanyonjo Guus Ten Asbroek Maureen Nakirunda Patrick Lumumba Godfrey Ayebale Benson Bagorogoza Anna Vassall Sylvia Meek James Tibenderana Raghu Lingam Betty Kirkwood Improving community health worker treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in Uganda through inSCALE community and mHealth innovations: A cluster randomised controlled trial. PLOS Digital Health |
| title | Improving community health worker treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in Uganda through inSCALE community and mHealth innovations: A cluster randomised controlled trial. |
| title_full | Improving community health worker treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in Uganda through inSCALE community and mHealth innovations: A cluster randomised controlled trial. |
| title_fullStr | Improving community health worker treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in Uganda through inSCALE community and mHealth innovations: A cluster randomised controlled trial. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Improving community health worker treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in Uganda through inSCALE community and mHealth innovations: A cluster randomised controlled trial. |
| title_short | Improving community health worker treatment for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in Uganda through inSCALE community and mHealth innovations: A cluster randomised controlled trial. |
| title_sort | improving community health worker treatment for malaria diarrhoea and pneumonia in uganda through inscale community and mhealth innovations a cluster randomised controlled trial |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000217 |
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