Dataset Information

Household surveillance of severe neonatal illness by community health workers in Mirzapur, Bangladesh: coverage and compliance with referral.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Effective and scalable community-based strategies are needed for identification and management of serious neonatal illness.

Methods

As part of a community-based, cluster-randomized controlled trial of the impact of a package of maternal-neonatal health care, community health workers (CHWs) were trained to conduct household surveillance and to identify and refer sick newborns according to a clinical algorithm. Assessments of newborns by CHWs at home were linked to hospital-based assessments by physicians, and factors impacting referral, referral compliance and outcome were evaluated.

Results

Seventy-three per cent (7310/10,006) of live-born neonates enrolled in the study were assessed by CHWs at least once; 54% were assessed within 2 days of birth, but only 15% were attended at delivery. Among assessments for which referral was recommended, compliance was verified in 54% (495/919). Referrals recommended to young neonates 0-6 days old were 30% less likely to be complied with compared to older neonates. Compliance was positively associated with having very severe disease and selected clinical signs, including respiratory rate > or = 70/minute; weak, abnormal or absent cry; lethargic or less than normal movement; and feeding problem. Among 239 neonates who died, only 38% were assessed by a CHW before death.

Conclusions

Despite rigorous programmatic effort, reaching neonates within the first 2 days after birth remained a challenge, and parental compliance with referral recommendation was limited, particularly among young neonates. To optimize potential impact, community postnatal surveillance must be coupled with skilled attendance at delivery, and/or a worker skilled in recognition of neonatal illness must be placed in close proximity to the community to allow for rapid case management to avert early deaths.

SUBMITTER: Darmstadt GL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2912547 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Household surveillance of severe neonatal illness by community health workers in Mirzapur, Bangladesh: coverage and compliance with referral.

Darmstadt Gary L GL El Arifeen Shams S Choi Yoonjoung Y Bari Sanwarul S Rahman Syed M SM Mannan Ishtiaq I Winch Peter J PJ Ahmed A S M Nawshad Uddin AS Seraji Habibur Rahman HR Begum Nazma N Black Robert E RE Santosham Mathuram M Baqui Abdullah H AH

Health policy and planning 20091116 2

<h4>Background</h4>Effective and scalable community-based strategies are needed for identification and management of serious neonatal illness.<h4>Methods</h4>As part of a community-based, cluster-randomized controlled trial of the impact of a package of maternal-neonatal health care, community health workers (CHWs) were trained to conduct household surveillance and to identify and refer sick newborns according to a clinical algorithm. Assessments of newborns by CHWs at home were linked to hospit ...[more]

PMID: 19917652

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundHand hygiene (HH) is recognized as the single most effective strategy for preventing health care-associated infections. In developing countries, data on hand hygiene compliance is available only for few health-care facilities. This study aimed to assess hand hygiene compliance among health-care workers in Debre Berhan referral hospital, Ethiopia.MethodsThis study employed the WHO hand hygiene observation method. Direct observation of the health care workers (HCWs) was conducted using an observation record form in five different wards. Trained and validated observers watched HCWs while they had direct contact with patients or their surroundings, and the observers then recorded all possible hand hygiene opportunities and hand hygiene actions. Observation was conducted over a 24 h period to minimize selection bias. More than 200 opportunities per ward were observed according to WHO recommendation, except in neonatal intensive care unit. HH compliance was calculated by dividing the number of times hand hygiene was performed by the total number of opportunities for hand hygiene. A 95% confidence interval (CI) was computed for compliance with the exact binomial method.ResultsA total of 917 hand hygiene opportunities were observed during the study. Overall HH compliance was 22.0% (95% CI: 19.4-24.9). HH compliance was similar across all professional categories and did not vary by shift. Levels of compliance were lower before patient contact (2.4%; 95% CI: 0.9-5.3), before an aseptic procedure (3.6%; 95% CI: 1.6-7.6) and after contact with patient surroundings (3.3%; 95% CI: 1.2-7.9), whereas better levels of compliance were found after body fluid exposure (75.8%; 95% CI: 68.0-82.3) and after patient contact (42.8%; 95% CI: 35.2-50.7).ConclusionHH compliance of HCWs was found to be low in Debre Berhan referral hospital. Compliance with indications that protect patients from infection was lower than that protect the HCWs. The findings of this study indicate that HH compliance needs further improvement.

Project description:RationaleThere is little evidence for the efficacy of handwashing for prevention of influenza transmission in resource-poor settings. We tested the impact of intensive handwashing promotion on household transmission of influenza-like illness and influenza in rural Bangladesh.MethodsIn 2009-10, we identified index case-patients with influenza-like illness (fever with cough or sore throat) who were the only symptomatic person in their household. Household compounds of index case-patients were randomized to control or intervention (soap and daily handwashing promotion). We conducted daily surveillance and collected oropharyngeal specimens. Secondary attack ratios (SAR) were calculated for influenza and ILI in each arm. Among controls, we investigated individual risk factors for ILI among household contacts of index case-patients.ResultsAmong 377 index case-patients, the mean number of days between fever onset and study enrollment was 2.1 (SD 1.7) among the 184 controls and 2.6 (SD 2.9) among 193 intervention case-patients. Influenza infection was confirmed in 20% of controls and 12% of intervention index case-patients. The SAR for influenza-like illness among household contacts was 9.5% among intervention (158/1661) and 7.7% among control households (115/1498) (SAR ratio 1.24, 95% CI 0.92-1.65). The SAR ratio for influenza was 2.40 (95% CI 0.68-8.47). In the control arm, susceptible contacts <2 years old (RRadj 5.51, 95% CI 3.43-8.85), those living with an index case-patient enrolled ≤24 hours after symptom onset (RRadj 1.91, 95% CI 1.18-3.10), and those who reported multiple daily interactions with the index case-patient (RRadj 1.94, 95% CI 1.71-3.26) were at increased risk of influenza-like illness.DiscussionHandwashing promotion initiated after illness onset in a household member did not protect against influenza-like illness or influenza. Behavior may not have changed rapidly enough to curb transmission between household members. A reactive approach to reduce household influenza transmission through handwashing promotion may be ineffective in the context of rural Bangladesh.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT00880659.

Dataset Information

Household surveillance of severe neonatal illness by community health workers in Mirzapur, Bangladesh: coverage and compliance with referral.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Household surveillance of severe neonatal illness by community health workers in Mirzapur, Bangladesh: coverage and compliance with referral.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets