Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Use of malaria rapid diagnostic tests by community health workers in Afghanistan: cluster randomised trial |
| Authors: |
Toby Leslie, Mark Rowland, Amy Mikhail, Bonnie Cundill, Barbara Willey, Asif Alokozai, Ismail Mayan, Anwar Hasanzai, Sayed Habibullah Baktash, Nader Mohammed, Molly Wood, Habib-u-Rahman Rahimi, Baptiste Laurent, Cyril Buhler, Christopher J. M. Whitty |
| Source: |
BMC Medicine, Vol 15, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2017) |
| Publisher Information: |
BMC, 2017. |
| Publication Year: |
2017 |
| Collection: |
LCC:Medicine |
| Subject Terms: |
Malaria, Rapid diagnostic test, Afghanistan, Community health worker, Cluster randomised trial, Medicine |
| More Details: |
Abstract Background The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends parasitological diagnosis of malaria before treatment, but use of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (mRDTs) by community health workers (CHWs) has not been fully tested within health services in south and central Asia. mRDTs could allow CHWs to diagnose malaria accurately, improving treatment of febrile illness. Methods A cluster randomised trial in community health services was undertaken in Afghanistan. The primary outcome was the proportion of suspected malaria cases correctly treated for polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed malaria and PCR negative cases receiving no antimalarial drugs measured at the level of the patient. CHWs from 22 clusters (clinics) received standard training on clinical diagnosis and treatment of malaria; 11 clusters randomised to the intervention arm received additional training and were provided with mRDTs. CHWs enrolled cases of suspected malaria, and the mRDT results and treatments were compared to blind-read PCR diagnosis. Results In total, 256 CHWs enrolled 2400 patients with 2154 (89.8%) evaluated. In the intervention arm, 75.3% (828/1099) were treated appropriately vs. 17.5% (185/1055) in the control arm (cluster adjusted risk ratio: 3.72, 95% confidence interval 2.40–5.77; p |
| Document Type: |
article |
| File Description: |
electronic resource |
| Language: |
English |
| ISSN: |
1741-7015 |
| Relation: |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12916-017-0891-8; https://doaj.org/toc/1741-7015 |
| DOI: |
10.1186/s12916-017-0891-8 |
| Access URL: |
https://doaj.org/article/bca65f9ba98f4324bde728e5d0e3486e |
| Accession Number: |
edsdoj.bca65f9ba98f4324bde728e5d0e3486e |
| Database: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
