Quality care management of febrile illnesses among children under 5 years in Atwima Kwanwoma district in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

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Date
NOVEMBER, 2019
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Abstract
Introduction Febrile illnesses in children and its management (especially infectious diseases) continue to result in an enormous increase in morbidity and mortality in developing countries causing a global public health concern. However, most low-middle-income countries have failed to institute systematic outcome assessment measures to ensure quality in the management of these conditions at one breadth. This study therefore aimed at assessing the quality care management of febrile illness in under five (5) in health facilities in the Atwima Kwanwoma district of Ashanti Region, Ghana. Methods The study was quantitative using a cross-sectional study design. Data were collected from 58 healthcare providers and 390 folders of children treated for febrile illnesses. Data were analyzed using STATA version 14. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify socio-demographic, patient and prescribers’ factors influencing the management of febrile illness among children under 5 years. Statistical significance for all testing was set as 0.05. Results More than fifty percent (68.4%) of the overall management of the febrile illnesses were classified as appropriate in accordance with the WHO/UNICEF IMCI guidelines. Issues of Scarcity or shortage of qualified employees; leadership interference; dissatisfaction from health care professionals; location-based challenges, absence of WHO/UNICEF guidelines for fevers management, Artemether Lumefantrine Dosing wall chart, stockout of Artemether Lumefantrine and Amoxicillin in some facilities were identified as some of the challenges inhibiting quality care management. Prescribers’ factors such as belief in superstition (pvalue=0.02) and patients’ socio-demographic factors such as the age of child below 1 year (pvalue= 0.04) and gender (p-value=0.02) were established to influence quality care management of febrile illnesses. Conclusion The study concludes that the quality of management of febrile illnesses was not impressive and required urgent attention. Stakeholders within the healthcare industry should come together and introduce policies that focus on improving the diagnostic and treatment capacity of healthcare facilities.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Health Policy, Management, and Economics, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of Masters of Public Health, Health Services Planning and Management.
Keywords
Febrile illnesses, Children, Atwima Kwanwoma district, Ashanti region, Ghana
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