Impact of ASHA training on active case detection of visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India.
BACKGROUND: One of the major challenges for management of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is early diagnosis of cases to improve treatment outcome and reduce transmission. We have therefore investigated active case detection of VL with the help of accredited social health activists (ASHA). ASHAs are wom...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a048a68187934eb18de8301ec6bd823b 2023-05-15T15:09:57+02:00 Impact of ASHA training on active case detection of visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India. Vidya Nand Ravi Das Ravindra Nath Pandey Krishna Pandey Varsha Singh Vijay Kumar Greg Matlashewski Pradeep Das 2014-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002774 https://doaj.org/article/a048a68187934eb18de8301ec6bd823b EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4031043?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0002774 https://doaj.org/article/a048a68187934eb18de8301ec6bd823b PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 8, Iss 5, p e2774 (2014) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002774 2022-12-30T23:10:28Z BACKGROUND: One of the major challenges for management of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is early diagnosis of cases to improve treatment outcome and reduce transmission. We have therefore investigated active case detection of VL with the help of accredited social health activists (ASHA). ASHAs are women who live in the community and receive performance-based incentives for overseeing maternal and other health-related issues in their village. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDING: Through conducting interviews with 400 randomly selected ASHAs from four primary health care centers (PHCs), it was observed that their level of knowledge about visceral leishmaniasis (VL) regarding transmission, diagnosis, and treatment was limited. The baseline data indicated that less than 10% of VL cases seeking treatment at the PHCs were referred by ASHAs. To increase the knowledge and the referral rate of VL cases by ASHAs, training sessions were carried out during the monthly ASHA meetings at their respective PHCs. Following a single training session, the referral rate increased from less than 10% to over 27% and the overall knowledge about VL substantially improved. It was not possible, however, to demonstrate that ASHA training reduced the time that individuals had fever before treatment at the PHC. CONCLUSIONS: Training ASHAs to identify VL cases in villages for early diagnosis and treatment at the local PHC is feasible and should be undertaken routinely to improve knowledge about VL. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 8 5 e2774 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Vidya Nand Ravi Das Ravindra Nath Pandey Krishna Pandey Varsha Singh Vijay Kumar Greg Matlashewski Pradeep Das Impact of ASHA training on active case detection of visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
BACKGROUND: One of the major challenges for management of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is early diagnosis of cases to improve treatment outcome and reduce transmission. We have therefore investigated active case detection of VL with the help of accredited social health activists (ASHA). ASHAs are women who live in the community and receive performance-based incentives for overseeing maternal and other health-related issues in their village. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDING: Through conducting interviews with 400 randomly selected ASHAs from four primary health care centers (PHCs), it was observed that their level of knowledge about visceral leishmaniasis (VL) regarding transmission, diagnosis, and treatment was limited. The baseline data indicated that less than 10% of VL cases seeking treatment at the PHCs were referred by ASHAs. To increase the knowledge and the referral rate of VL cases by ASHAs, training sessions were carried out during the monthly ASHA meetings at their respective PHCs. Following a single training session, the referral rate increased from less than 10% to over 27% and the overall knowledge about VL substantially improved. It was not possible, however, to demonstrate that ASHA training reduced the time that individuals had fever before treatment at the PHC. CONCLUSIONS: Training ASHAs to identify VL cases in villages for early diagnosis and treatment at the local PHC is feasible and should be undertaken routinely to improve knowledge about VL. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vidya Nand Ravi Das Ravindra Nath Pandey Krishna Pandey Varsha Singh Vijay Kumar Greg Matlashewski Pradeep Das |
author_facet |
Vidya Nand Ravi Das Ravindra Nath Pandey Krishna Pandey Varsha Singh Vijay Kumar Greg Matlashewski Pradeep Das |
author_sort |
Vidya Nand Ravi Das |
title |
Impact of ASHA training on active case detection of visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India. |
title_short |
Impact of ASHA training on active case detection of visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India. |
title_full |
Impact of ASHA training on active case detection of visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India. |
title_fullStr |
Impact of ASHA training on active case detection of visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of ASHA training on active case detection of visceral leishmaniasis in Bihar, India. |
title_sort |
impact of asha training on active case detection of visceral leishmaniasis in bihar, india. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002774 https://doaj.org/article/a048a68187934eb18de8301ec6bd823b |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 8, Iss 5, p e2774 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4031043?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0002774 https://doaj.org/article/a048a68187934eb18de8301ec6bd823b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002774 |
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PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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8 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
e2774 |
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