Severe Malaria &Treatment Bill Brieger | 07 Nov 2014 09:27 am
Severe malaria case management practices in selected states in Nigeria: Need for urgent intervention
At the recently concluded American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2014 Annual Meeting, USAID’s MAPS Project presented a poster on severe malaria in Nigeria. The authors, Yetunde Oke, Banji Ipadeola, Bolatito Aiyenigba, Grace Nwankwo, Justice Adaji, Olatunde Olotu, Aniefiok Akpasa, and Abba Umar, share their findings below.
Severe malaria is a life threatening medical condition that requires emergency interventions including prompt and effective treatment to prevent death (WHO 2000). The AQUAMAT* study showed a relative reduction in mortality of 22.5% with use of parenteral artesunate compared to quinine in the management of severe P. falciparum malaria and the Nigeria national policy on malaria diagnosis and treatment has been revised based on this evidence.
However, implementation of this guideline is still a challenge. The goal of this study was to determine baseline capacity and management practices for severe malaria in selected secondary health facilities in Nigeria with the aim of designing interventions to address specific gaps identified.
A cross?sectional study was conducted to assess twenty?four secondary public health facilities in three states (Benue, Kogi and Oyo States) in Nigeria in August 2013. Data on the capacity of health care providers; malaria services provided at different service delivery points (three months preceding the survey).
Medical supplies were collected using modified WHO severe malaria assessment tools. Data entry was done using the SPSS software programme and analysis done with STATA version 10.0.
Total number of confirmed malaria cases reported in the three states over the three months preceding the assessment was 18, 695 and diagnosis of severe malaria was made in 8.6% of the total malaria cases. Out of the severe malaria cases, 75.9% were discharged, 3.8% referred and 1.5% died.
Fifty per cent of the health care providers had attended training on malaria case management 12 months preceding the survey. The majority of providers managed severe malaria with injectable artemether (45.8%), quinine (37.5%) compared with artesunate (29.2%).
Most of the health facilities (95.8%) practiced parasite-based diagnosis of malaria but only (29.2%) monitored the parasite clearance of patients with severe malaria. 70% of the facilities did not have basic supplies for ancillary management of severe malaria. 66.7% and 30% of the health facilities experienced stock?out of parenteral artesunate and parenteral quinine respectively in the previous three months.
Health system strengthening with emphasis on capacity building of health care providers, medical commodity security and improvement in supportive/ancillary management of severe malaria is needed to reduce the mortality attributable to severe malaria.