Improved Clinical and Microscopy Diagnosis at Primary Health Care in Tanzania

Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS)

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 4

Conditions: Malaria

Treatments: Procedure: Clinical algorithm and microscopy diagnosis of malaria

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00687895

HF2003

Details and patient eligibility

About

General objective: To improve the quality of fever case management in children in government health facilities in Tanzania Hypothesis:The training of health workers, as well as provision, training and use of microscopes for malaria diagnosis will improve the treatment of clinical episodes of fever in children while reducing the amount and costs of drugs

Full description

PHC facilities were eligible for the study if they were rural government owned; accessible by road during rainy season; and within 3 hours by car from Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences (MUCHS), Dar es Salaam

All children attending the 16 PHC facilities under the study during daytime were enrolled if they fulfilled the following criteria:

1. below five years of age
2. fever (temperature≥37.5◦C) and/or reported history of fever in last 2 days
3. able to return to the facility on day 7 after treatment or any other day if symptoms were to worsen or recur
4. the mother/guardian or caretaker consented to participate.

Patients with severe disease and/or general danger signs requiring inpatient care according to the IMCI guidelines were admitted or referred to the health centers or the district hospitals

Enrollment: 3,131 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 6 to 59 months old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. below five years of age
2. fever (temperature≥37.5◦C) and/or reported history of fever in last 2 days
3. able to return to the facility on day 7 after treatment or any other day if symptoms were to worsen or recur
4. the mother/guardian or caretaker consented to participate

Exclusion criteria

a) N/A

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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3,131 participants in 3 patient groups

1

Experimental group

Description:

training in clinical algorithm plus microscopy

Treatment:

Procedure: Clinical algorithm and microscopy diagnosis of malaria

2

Experimental group

Description:

clinical algorithm

Treatment:

Procedure: Clinical algorithm and microscopy diagnosis of malaria

3

No Intervention group

Description:

Control