RESEARCH ARTICLE


Malaria Case-Management in Urban Area: Various Challenges in Public and Private Health Facilities in Benin, West Africa



Badirou Aguemon1, Barikissou Georgia Damien1, *, Antoine Vickey Hinson2, Géraud Padonou1, Abévi Fleury Bruno Agbessinou1, Edgard Marius Ouendo3, Paul Ayélo2
1 Unit of Public health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin
2 Unit of Teaching and Research in Occupational Health and Environment, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin
3 Institut Régional de Santé Publique (IRSP), Ouidah, Benin


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Creative Commons License
© 2018 Aguemon et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Bénin; Tel: 97483574; Fax: 21304096; E-mail: barikiss2000@yahoo.fr


Abstract

Background:

In Benin, malaria remains endemic and perennial throughout the year in most areas. During the last decade, a substantial increase was noticed in the procurement of Artemisinin-based combination therapies and malaria RDT. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of uncomplicated malaria cases-management in public and private health facilities.

Methods:

A cross-sectional survey was carried out in public and private health facilities in the municipality of Abomey-Calavi in southern Benin from August to September 2016. The study focused on two targets: (i) patients with uncomplicated malaria who sought care in a health facility in Abomey-Calavi during the study period; and (ii) the health care providers in public and private health facilities authorized by the Ministry of Health.

Results:

In 27 health facilities investigated, 15 in the public sector and 12 in the private sector, a total of 313 patients and 93 health care providers were included. Forty-four percent (44%) had no education. Among the patients, 60% were identified in the public health facilities. About 87% of uncomplicated malaria patients were tested in public facilities while 63% were tested in private facilities. In the same way, 54% of patients were treated in accordance with National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) guidelines.

Conclusions:

The present study showed a poor performance in uncomplicated malaria case-management in private health facilities compared to public health facilities. Strategy to improve access and utilization of malaria case-management supplies needs to be reviewed in both public and private health facilities.

Keywords: Malaria case-management, National Policy, Health facilities, Public and private, Benin, National Malaria Control Program (NMCP).