Assessing informal healthcare providers' knowledge of diagnosis and treatment of malaria and diarrhea: evidence from urban informal settlements in Southeast Nigeria.

IF 3.4 3区医学 Q2 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH Frontiers in Public Health Pub Date : 2025-03-12 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1556996

Ifeyinwa Arize, Joy Ozughalu, Bernard Okechi, Chinyere Mbachu, Obinna Onwujekwe, Bassey Ebenso

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Abstract

Background: Despite the availability of effective interventions, malaria and diarrhea continue to be leading causes of disease burden in Nigeria. Informal healthcare providers (IHPs) account for a significant proportion of health service providers in urban slums and may pose a challenge to service quality if they are untrained and unregulated. This study assessed IHPs' knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of malaria and diarrhea.

Methodology: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted in eight urban informal settlements (slums) in southeast Nigeria. Data were collected from 235 informal health providers using an interviewer-administered questionnaire.

Results: The mean overall knowledge scores for malaria and diarrhea were 5.2 (95% CI: 4.3-6.1) and 5.4 (95% CI: 4.1-6.7), respectively, among the different IHPs. However, private medicine vendors (PMVs) and traditional birth attendants (TBAs) showed higher knowledge of treating malaria and diarrhea. Having more than 8 years of formal education and receiving on-the-job training had a statistically significant effect on adequate knowledge of malaria and diarrhea treatment.

Conclusion: Institutionalizing and strengthening service delivery through appropriate training and support for IHPs can improve the quality of health service delivery in urban slums.

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评估非正规卫生保健提供者对疟疾和腹泻的诊断和治疗知识：来自尼日利亚东南部城市非正规住区的证据。

背景：尽管有有效的干预措施，但疟疾和腹泻仍然是尼日利亚疾病负担的主要原因。非正规保健提供者在城市贫民窟的保健服务提供者中占很大比例，如果他们未经培训和不受管制，可能对服务质量构成挑战。本研究评估了国际卫生服务提供者对疟疾和腹泻的诊断和治疗知识。方法：在尼日利亚东南部的八个城市非正式住区（贫民窟）进行了横断面定量研究。使用访谈者填写的问卷从235个非正式保健提供者处收集数据。结果：在不同的ihp中，疟疾和腹泻的平均总体知识得分分别为5.2 （95% CI: 4.3-6.1）和5.4 （95% CI: 4.1-6.7）。然而，私营药品摊贩和传统助产士对治疗疟疾和腹泻的知识更高。接受过8年以上的正规教育和在职培训对疟疾和腹泻治疗的充分知识有统计学意义上的显著影响。结论：通过适当的培训和对国际卫生服务提供者的支持，使服务提供制度化和加强，可以提高城市贫民窟卫生服务提供的质量。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Public Health Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

CiteScore

4.80

自引率

7.70%

发文量

4469

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Public Health is a multidisciplinary open-access journal which publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research and is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians, policy makers and the public worldwide. The journal aims at overcoming current fragmentation in research and publication, promoting consistency in pursuing relevant scientific themes, and supporting finding dissemination and translation into practice. Frontiers in Public Health is organized into Specialty Sections that cover different areas of research in the field. Please refer to the author guidelines for details on article types and the submission process.