Evaluation of malaria microscopy diagnostic performance at private health facilities in Tanzania
Abstract Background The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends use of parasitological diagnosis of malaria for all age groups in all malaria transmission settings. Many private health facilities rely on malaria microscopy for malaria diagnosis. However, quality of malaria microscopy is affected...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:15b6672fbba64452b856255310af2428 2023-05-15T15:14:49+02:00 Evaluation of malaria microscopy diagnostic performance at private health facilities in Tanzania Billy Ngasala Samweli Bushukatale 2019-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-2998-1 https://doaj.org/article/15b6672fbba64452b856255310af2428 EN eng BMC http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12936-019-2998-1 https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/s12936-019-2998-1 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/15b6672fbba64452b856255310af2428 Malaria Journal, Vol 18, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2019) Microscopy Malaria Performance Private health facilities Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-2998-1 2022-12-31T03:37:31Z Abstract Background The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends use of parasitological diagnosis of malaria for all age groups in all malaria transmission settings. Many private health facilities rely on malaria microscopy for malaria diagnosis. However, quality of malaria microscopy is affected by number of factors including availability of skilled laboratory microscopists and lack of quality assurance systems in many malaria endemic countries. This study was carried out to assess quality of malaria microscopy in selected private health facilities in Tanzania. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted from August to September, 2017. A total of 40 private health laboratories in five regions were invited to participate in the study. Data were collected by distributing standardized pre-validated malaria slide-panels to each health facility. Sensitivity, specificity, and strength of agreement (with kappa score) were calculated to assess performance in detecting and quantification of Plasmodium species. Results Among the 40 health facilities, 31 (77.5%) returned their results to the reference centre (Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences). Overall, the measures of malaria diagnostic accuracy were high, i.e. the sensitivity and specificity of malaria parasite detection by microscopy in the health facilities were 84.3% (95% CI 77–90) and 90.8% (95% CI 83.3–95.7), respectively. There was substantial agreement in parasite detection with (Kappa value: 0.74 (95% 0.65–0.83). However, only 17.8% (24 of 134) of blood slides were interpreted correctly at the health facilities in terms of parasite density counts. Conclusion Although there was substantial agreement between the private health microscopists and experienced microscopists in malaria parasite detection, there was poor performance in parasite counts. This calls for regular in-service training and external quality assessments at private health facilities to enhance the skills of private health facility microscopists in malaria microscopy. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Malaria Journal 18 1 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
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Microscopy Malaria Performance Private health facilities Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
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Microscopy Malaria Performance Private health facilities Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Billy Ngasala Samweli Bushukatale Evaluation of malaria microscopy diagnostic performance at private health facilities in Tanzania |
topic_facet |
Microscopy Malaria Performance Private health facilities Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
description |
Abstract Background The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends use of parasitological diagnosis of malaria for all age groups in all malaria transmission settings. Many private health facilities rely on malaria microscopy for malaria diagnosis. However, quality of malaria microscopy is affected by number of factors including availability of skilled laboratory microscopists and lack of quality assurance systems in many malaria endemic countries. This study was carried out to assess quality of malaria microscopy in selected private health facilities in Tanzania. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted from August to September, 2017. A total of 40 private health laboratories in five regions were invited to participate in the study. Data were collected by distributing standardized pre-validated malaria slide-panels to each health facility. Sensitivity, specificity, and strength of agreement (with kappa score) were calculated to assess performance in detecting and quantification of Plasmodium species. Results Among the 40 health facilities, 31 (77.5%) returned their results to the reference centre (Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences). Overall, the measures of malaria diagnostic accuracy were high, i.e. the sensitivity and specificity of malaria parasite detection by microscopy in the health facilities were 84.3% (95% CI 77–90) and 90.8% (95% CI 83.3–95.7), respectively. There was substantial agreement in parasite detection with (Kappa value: 0.74 (95% 0.65–0.83). However, only 17.8% (24 of 134) of blood slides were interpreted correctly at the health facilities in terms of parasite density counts. Conclusion Although there was substantial agreement between the private health microscopists and experienced microscopists in malaria parasite detection, there was poor performance in parasite counts. This calls for regular in-service training and external quality assessments at private health facilities to enhance the skills of private health facility microscopists in malaria microscopy. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Billy Ngasala Samweli Bushukatale |
author_facet |
Billy Ngasala Samweli Bushukatale |
author_sort |
Billy Ngasala |
title |
Evaluation of malaria microscopy diagnostic performance at private health facilities in Tanzania |
title_short |
Evaluation of malaria microscopy diagnostic performance at private health facilities in Tanzania |
title_full |
Evaluation of malaria microscopy diagnostic performance at private health facilities in Tanzania |
title_fullStr |
Evaluation of malaria microscopy diagnostic performance at private health facilities in Tanzania |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluation of malaria microscopy diagnostic performance at private health facilities in Tanzania |
title_sort |
evaluation of malaria microscopy diagnostic performance at private health facilities in tanzania |
publisher |
BMC |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-2998-1 https://doaj.org/article/15b6672fbba64452b856255310af2428 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Malaria Journal, Vol 18, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2019) |
op_relation |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12936-019-2998-1 https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/s12936-019-2998-1 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/15b6672fbba64452b856255310af2428 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-2998-1 |
container_title |
Malaria Journal |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766345221102108672 |