Are village health volunteers as good as basic health staffs in providing malaria care?
A country wide analysis from Myanmar, 2015
Abstract
Malaria is one of the major public health problems in Myanmar. Village health volunteers (VHV) are the key malaria diagnosis and treatment service provider at community level in addition to basic health staffs (BHS). This countrywide analysis aimed to assess and compare the accessibility to- and quality of malaria care (treatment initiation, treatment within 24 hour and complete treatment delivery) between VHV and BHS in Myanmar.
This was a retrospective cohort study using record review of routinely collected programme data available in electronic format. All patients with undifferentiated fever screened and diagnosed for malaria in January–December 2015 by VHV and BHS under National Malaria Control Programme in Myanmar were included in the study. Unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) were calculated to assess the effect of VHV/BHS on receipt of treatment by patients.
This research was supported by the UK Department for International Development’s Operational Research Capacity Building Programme led by the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union)
Citation
Linn NYY, Kathirvel S, Das M, Thapa B, Rahman MM, Maung TM, Kyaw AMM, Thi A, Lin Z. Are village health volunteers as good as basic health staffs in providing malaria care? A country wide analysis from Myanmar, 2015. Malar. J. [Internet]. BioMed Central; 2018;17:242. Available from: https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12936-018-2384-4