knowledge, attitude and practice of public and private health workers towards integrated management of childhood illnesses case management in hoima district

Description

Introduction: Whereas global under-five mortality rate has gone down since the 1990s, it remains high in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the deaths are caused by preventable and treatable diseases. The IMCI strategy was introduced by the WHO and UNICEF to reduce child mortality and morbidity due to the commonest childhood illnesses.The strategy needs to be used in both the public and private sector where majority of under-five children first seek care. The level of knowledge, practice and attitude towards IMCI case management among private health providers is not known. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to compare the level of knowledge of IMCI case management and associated factors amongst private and public health providers,as well as the provider practices and attitudes towards the strategy. Justification: It is necessary to further lower morbidity and mortality in children under-five years. This requires health workers at first-level health facilities to appropriately manage sick children. It is therefore important to assess health worker knowledge, attitude and practice of IMCI case management to identify gaps which will guide the designing of intervention programs such as training to improve child care. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional survey will be done in the mid-western District of Hoima, involving public and private not for profit health providers at HC III level. Selfadministered questionnaires will be used to assess health provider knowledge, practices and attitude towards IMCI case management. Data analysis will be done at univariate, bivariate and multivariate levels, to determine the association between knowledge of IMCI case management and influencing factors. An independent sample t-test will be used to test for difference in knowledge between private and public health provider