Adherence to the integrated management of childhood illness guidelines in Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda: evidence from the national service provision assessment surveys

Carsten Krüger, Monika Heinzel-Gutenbrunner, Mohammed Ali, Carsten Krüger, Monika Heinzel-Gutenbrunner, Mohammed Ali

Abstract

Background: Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) is regarded as a standard public health approach to lowering child mortality in developing countries. However, little is known about how health workers adhere to the guidelines at the national level in sub-Saharan African countries.

Methods: Data from the Service Provision Assessment surveys of Namibia (NA) (survey year: 2009), Kenya (KE) (2010), Tanzania (TZ) (2006) and Uganda (UG) (2007) were analysed for adherence to the IMCI guidelines by health workers. Potential influencing factors included the survey country, patient's age, the different levels of the national health system, the training level of the health care provider (physician, non-physician clinician, nurse-midwife, auxiliary staff), and the status of re-training in IMCI.

Results: In total, 6856 children (NA: 1495; KE: 1890; TZ: 2469; UG: 1002 / male 51.2-53.5%) aged 2-73 months (2-24 months, 65.3%; median NA: 19 months; KE: 18 months; TZ: 16 months; UG: 15 months) were clinically assessed by 2006 health workers during the surveys. Less than 33% of the workers carried out assessment of all three IMCI danger signs, namely inability to eat/drink, vomiting everything, and febrile convulsions (NA: 11%; KE: 11%; TZ: 14%; UG: 31%) while the rate for assessing all three of the IMCI main symptoms of cough/difficult breathing, diarrhoea, and fever was < 60% (NA: 48%; KE: 34%; TZ: 50%; UG: 57%). Physical examination rates for fever (temperature) (NA: 97%; KE: 87%; TZ: 73%; UG: 90%), pneumonia (respiration rate/auscultation) (NA: 43%; KE: 24%; TZ: 25%; UG: 20%) and diarrhoea (dehydration status) (NA: 29%; KE: 19%; TZ: 20%; UG: 39%) varied widely and were highest when assessing children with the actual diagnosis of pneumonia and diarrhoea. Adherence rates tended to be higher in children ≤ 24 months, at hospitals, among higher-qualified staff (physician/non-physician clinician) and among those with recent IMCI re-training.

Conclusion: Despite nationwide training in IMCI the adherence rates for assessment and physical examination remained low in all four countries. IMCI training should continue to be provided to all health staff, particularly nurses, midwives, and auxiliary staff, with periodic re-training and an emphasis to equally target children of all age groups.

Keywords: Adherence; Health workers; Integrated management of childhood illness; Sub-Saharan Africa.

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Macro International as the copyright holder granted the authors unrestricted access to all survey data, which were completely anonymised, for this secondary analysis after submission of the research proposal. For such an analysis, no approval of an ethical committee is required according to the Good Practice of Secondary Data Analysis, a national guideline for the use of epidemiologic databases in Germany, which was fully adhered to.

The surveys themselves had been initiated, planned and approved by the respective Ministry of Health. During the actual surveys, parents and health staff had given informed written consent to direct observation of the assessment process.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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