Assessing the capacity of community health workers on the current management of childhood diarrhea in Jigawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Even though the lives of an estimated three quarters of a million children are being saved each year, over three million children are still dying from readily preventable diarrheal disease and this may partly be due to insufficient knowledge and skills by the healthcare provider to make diagnosis, provide appropriate care and take give major home key messages.

Methods: The study was descriptive cross sectional involving all the Primary Health Care centers in six LGAs of Jigawa State in January 2013. Two health workers from each PHC were assessed using a pre-test self administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS 16.0.

Results: Among 335 interviewed Community health workers,54.9% were CHOS/CHEWS,22.1% JCHEWS,5.7% nurses and others (EHA, CA etc) made up 17.3%.Correct definition ,types and key messages  of diarrhea was known  by 50%. In practice 48% would give an antibiotic combination with ORS.30% constituted Salt sugar Solution correctly and about 20% would add zinc tablet as an adjunct therapy. Across individuals educational cadre , there was no statistical difference in knowledge and practices in management of diarrhea  except in classification of dehydration(p=0.00) where CHO/CHEWS performed better and composition of Low ORS (p=0.00)were nurses responded better.

Conclusion: The identified gap in this study among these healthcare providers in managing childhood diarrhea at the community is a clarion call for immediate action to improve their knowledge and practice capacity at all levels through series or training and continuous retraining.

Key words: Diarrhea, knowledge, practices, zinc Low osmolarity ORS, health workers