EVALUATION OF THE QUALITY OF MALARIA CASE MANAGEMENT AT A RURAL HEALTH FACILITY IN THE SAVANNAH REGION OF GHANA

Abstract

Background: Malaria remains a major public health issue in the world especially in the resourced-limited countries. Ghana is not left out as the incidence of malaria still accounts 40% of all OPD cases. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was used to evaluate the quality of malaria case management at Damongo Municipal Hospital. The specific objectives were to: determine the mode of malaria diagnosis, assess the treatment of malaria cases and evaluate the health record management system in the Damongo hospital. A sample size of three hundred (300) malaria cases from November to December, 2019 were reviewed using purposive and multi stage sampling methods. Results: Results of this study were presented in simple tables and figures. The findings from the study indicated that, most of the cases reviewed were 18 years and above (49%) and majority of them were females (65.3%). Generally, only few clients (31.7%) went through laboratory confirmation before diagnosis was made, but majority (68.3%) were not tested but treatment was on symptom-based diagnoses. Out of those that were tested, 14.3% were positive to malaria parasitaemia. Drugs that were used for the treatment of malaria by the prescribers included Artemether Lumefantrine (AL), Artesunate Amodiaquine (AA) and Quinine (Qn). Majority (73.3%) of them were treated with AL. Regarding adherence to the treatment protocol, 14.3% adhered to the guidelines. Considerable number of clients correctly diagnosed both in the consulting room registers and clients’ folders. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that the hospital management should ensure that clinicians are guided by case management protocols to minimize treatment for unconfirmed cases which would reduce unnecessary treatment cost and prevent resistance to anti-malaria drugs.