CHW &Diagnosis &iCCM &Treatment Bill Brieger | 14 Nov 2016 08:55 pm
A Pilot to Use Malaria RDTs at the Community Level in Burkina Faso
A poster entitled “The Improving Malaria Care (IMC) Project’s Contribution to follow up a Pilot to Use Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) at the Community Level in Burkina Faso” was presented by members of Jhpiego’s Burkina Faso Team: Ousmane Badolo, Stanislas P. Nebie, Moumouni Bonkoungou, Mathurin Dodo, Rachel Waxman, Danielle Burke, William Brieger at the 65th annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Atlanta. The abstract follows …
CHWs provide malaria testing, treatment and health education
Early and correct case management of malaria in health facilities and at the community level is among the priorities of Burkina Faso’s National Malaria Control Program (NMCP). In line with this initiative, the NMCP piloted use of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) by Community Health Workers (CHWs) to confirm malaria cases in the three health districts of Kaya, Saponé and Nouna between 2013 and 2015. With PMI support, follow-up visits were organized to document best practices, as well as challenges, on RDT use by CHWs that could serve as lessons learned for scale-up.
During follow-up visits, malaria commodities management (supply, storage and use) at the community level was examined, use of RDTs was assessed, and implementation at the community 
level was discussed with all actors at regional, district, health facilities, and community levels. The team examined the monitoring/supervision processes at all levels, used a check list on malaria commodities management, and employed a questionnaire for each type of actor. Both qualitative and quantitative data have been collected. A total of 108 persons were contacted including 32 CHWs, 42 community leaders and 34 health care providers and managers.
Findings revealed frequent stock-outs of RDTs and artemisinin-based combination therapies, non-payment of stipends to CHWs (a demotivator) and insufficient supervision of CHW by health teams. From the community perspective, 66% of community leaders were satisfied with their CHW’s work (diagnosis and treatment of uncomplicated malaria 
and referral of severe cases to health facilities). However, 46% of community leaders complained of frequent stock-outs and unanimously agreed on the importance of regular payment of premiums to CHW.
Follow up of the pilot was valuable in obtaining community, CHW and health worker perspectives for improving the program. While the community finds the program acceptable, its sustainability will require that solutions be found for stock-outs, non-payment, and insufficient supervision before scale up takes place.