The feasibility of introducing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in drug shops in Uganda
Abstract Background National malaria control programmes and international agencies are keen to scale-up the use of effective rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria. The high proportion of the Ugandan population seeking care at drug shops makes these outlets attractive as providers of malaria RDTs...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7282244bfae447b5957db039d1b55adb 2023-05-15T15:14:59+02:00 The feasibility of introducing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in drug shops in Uganda Magnussen Pascal Turinde Asaph Ndyomugyenyi Richard Mbonye Anthony K Clarke Siân Chandler Clare 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-9-367 https://doaj.org/article/7282244bfae447b5957db039d1b55adb EN eng BMC http://www.malariajournal.com/content/9/1/367 https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-9-367 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/7282244bfae447b5957db039d1b55adb Malaria Journal, Vol 9, Iss 1, p 367 (2010) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 article 2010 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-9-367 2022-12-31T11:57:23Z Abstract Background National malaria control programmes and international agencies are keen to scale-up the use of effective rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria. The high proportion of the Ugandan population seeking care at drug shops makes these outlets attractive as providers of malaria RDTs. However, there is no precedent for blood testing at drug shops and little is known about how such tests might be perceived and used. Understanding use of drug shops by communities in Uganda is essential to inform the design of interventions to introduce RDTs. Methods We conducted a qualitative study, with 10 community focus group discussions, and 18 in-depth interviews with drug shop attendants, health workers and district health officials. The formative study was carried out in Mukono district, central Uganda an area of high malaria endemicity from May-July 2009. Results Drug shops were perceived by the community as important in treating malaria and there was awareness among most drug sellers and the community that not all febrile illnesses were malaria. The idea of introducing RDTs for malaria diagnosis in drug shops was attractive to most respondents. It was anticipated that RDTs would improve access to effective treatment of malaria, offset high costs associated with poor treatment, and avoid irrational drug use. However, communities did express fear that drug shops would overprice RDTs, raising the overall treatment cost for malaria. Other fears included poor adherence to the RDT result, reuse of RDTs leading to infections and fear that RDTs would be used to test for human immune deficiency virus (HIV). All drug shops visited had no record on patient data and referral of cases to health units was noted to be poor. Conclusion These results not only provide useful lessons for implementing the intervention study but have wide implications for scaling up malaria treatment in drug shops. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Malaria Journal 9 1 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Magnussen Pascal Turinde Asaph Ndyomugyenyi Richard Mbonye Anthony K Clarke Siân Chandler Clare The feasibility of introducing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in drug shops in Uganda |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
description |
Abstract Background National malaria control programmes and international agencies are keen to scale-up the use of effective rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria. The high proportion of the Ugandan population seeking care at drug shops makes these outlets attractive as providers of malaria RDTs. However, there is no precedent for blood testing at drug shops and little is known about how such tests might be perceived and used. Understanding use of drug shops by communities in Uganda is essential to inform the design of interventions to introduce RDTs. Methods We conducted a qualitative study, with 10 community focus group discussions, and 18 in-depth interviews with drug shop attendants, health workers and district health officials. The formative study was carried out in Mukono district, central Uganda an area of high malaria endemicity from May-July 2009. Results Drug shops were perceived by the community as important in treating malaria and there was awareness among most drug sellers and the community that not all febrile illnesses were malaria. The idea of introducing RDTs for malaria diagnosis in drug shops was attractive to most respondents. It was anticipated that RDTs would improve access to effective treatment of malaria, offset high costs associated with poor treatment, and avoid irrational drug use. However, communities did express fear that drug shops would overprice RDTs, raising the overall treatment cost for malaria. Other fears included poor adherence to the RDT result, reuse of RDTs leading to infections and fear that RDTs would be used to test for human immune deficiency virus (HIV). All drug shops visited had no record on patient data and referral of cases to health units was noted to be poor. Conclusion These results not only provide useful lessons for implementing the intervention study but have wide implications for scaling up malaria treatment in drug shops. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Magnussen Pascal Turinde Asaph Ndyomugyenyi Richard Mbonye Anthony K Clarke Siân Chandler Clare |
author_facet |
Magnussen Pascal Turinde Asaph Ndyomugyenyi Richard Mbonye Anthony K Clarke Siân Chandler Clare |
author_sort |
Magnussen Pascal |
title |
The feasibility of introducing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in drug shops in Uganda |
title_short |
The feasibility of introducing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in drug shops in Uganda |
title_full |
The feasibility of introducing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in drug shops in Uganda |
title_fullStr |
The feasibility of introducing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in drug shops in Uganda |
title_full_unstemmed |
The feasibility of introducing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in drug shops in Uganda |
title_sort |
feasibility of introducing rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in drug shops in uganda |
publisher |
BMC |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-9-367 https://doaj.org/article/7282244bfae447b5957db039d1b55adb |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Malaria Journal, Vol 9, Iss 1, p 367 (2010) |
op_relation |
http://www.malariajournal.com/content/9/1/367 https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-9-367 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/7282244bfae447b5957db039d1b55adb |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-9-367 |
container_title |
Malaria Journal |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766345376743292928 |