Reduced child mortality rate could soon be realized in Kenya if a new approach suggested by researchers is adopted.
A
study by Kenya Medical Research (KEMRI) suggests that an Emergency
Triage and Treatment Plus (ETAT +) approach is a cost effective way of
treating childhood diseases in Kenyan hospitals.
The study findings published in PloSMedicine
journal last year included development and implementation of
evidence-based clinical practice guidelines linked to health worker
training, follow-up supervision, performance feedback, and facilitation
in eight district hospitals in Kenya.
The new approach, ETAT + is set to improve care for children in district hospitals in Kenya.
It is a multifaceted approach employing guidelines, training, supervision, feedback, and facilitation.
The
researchers collected the relevant information on costs by using
clinical and accounting record reviews and interviews with those
involved in developing and implementing the intervention.
The
researchers evaluated the effectiveness of the approach by comparing the
implementation of ETAT+ in the intervention hospitals with the partial
intervention as delivered in the control hospitals for 18 months.
Finally,
the researchers calculated the costs of scaling up the intervention by
applying their results to the whole of Kenya—121 hospital facilities
with an estimated annual child admission rate of 2,000 per facility.
The
research stated that this approach will help to achieve the Millennium
Development Goal 4of reducing the under-five mortality rate by
two-thirds by 2015.
Dr Edwine Barasa lead author of the study
said: “As the international community is giving an increasing focus to
strengthening health systems, these findings provide a strong case for
scaling up this intervention, which improves quality of care and service
provision for the major causes of child mortality, in rural hospitals
throughout Kenya and other district hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Co-
other authors of the study said the approach will be most usefully
generalized to low-income countries including Kenya with high child
mortality rate.
According to UNICE, 7.6 million children die
every year before they reach the age of five. Half of these deaths occur
in children in sub-Saharan Africa treatable and preventable diseases,
such as pneumonia, malaria, and diarrhea.
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