Description
Introduction
Over recent years, there has been a lot of investment from the private sector into sickle cell disease (SCD) care. This has been in different forms such as capacity building of healthcare workers (HCWs), community health promoters (CHPs) and implementation of newborn screening programs. In Kenya, through the SCD Afya Dhabiti Program which is sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals, the Ministry of Health has been able to implement some of this.
Objectives
To build the capacity of HCWs and CHPs on SCD management.
To conduct clinical, laboratory, and pharmacy assessment of facilities in high-burdened regions.
To screen and evaluate the prevalence of SCD and sickle cell trait (SCT) in 4 counties.
Methods
A curriculum for training was developed and HCWs trained for a day while CHPs for half a day and subjected to a pre and post-test.
We used semi-structured questionnaires to assess 2 main public facilities in each county.
Four SCD high-burden counties were chosen to pilot the infant screening activities.
Results
705 HCWs (different cadres) were trained. The pre-training mean score was 9.7 while the post-training one was 15.9.
754 CHPs were trained. Their pre-test average was 7.21, the post-test average was 8.8.
Only 21.4% had confirmatory testing whereas only 7.1% had a newborn screening program.
57.1% had hydroxyurea and Pen V, and none had the booster (pneumococcal and meningococcal) vaccines stocked up. 64.3% of the facilities experienced stock-outs.
A total of 2983 infants were screened. Out of this, 27 (0.9%) had SCD, whereas 252 (8.4%) had SCT. Only 18.5% have since been enrolled into clinic follow-up.
Conclusion
There was noted immediate improvement in knowledge by the trainees. Health facilities should prioritize stocking SCD products as their availability is crucial in providing optimal care. In resource-constraint set-ups, establishing regular follow-up of patients could prove troublesome despite early diagnosis.
| Country | Kenya |
|---|---|
| Organization | Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) |
| Position | Medical officer |
| Received a Grant? | Yes |
| If yes, give grant details | Project is funded by Norvatis Pharmaceuticals |
