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
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2018Volume: 11
First Page: 54
Last Page: 61
Publisher ID: TOPHJ-11-54
DOI: 10.2174/1874944501811010054
Article History:
Received Date: 29/12/2017Revision Received Date: 30/01/2018
Acceptance Date: 2/2/2018
Electronic publication date: 23/02/2018
Collection year: 2018
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.
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.