INTRODUCTION: Malaria is still one of the most important public health problems worldwide. The diagnosis of this disease is still mainly based on thick blood films. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the knowledge about malaria diagnosis of the technicians of the public health network in Luanda, Angola, by means of a survey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This survey was carried out in three phases. In the first one, open interviews were done to technicians related with the different procedures for malaria diagnosis. In the second one, a preliminary questionnaire was prepared and evaluated. In the third phase, a definitive questionnaire was applied to 120 technicians from Luanda between April and July, 2013. The proportions of correct and incorrect answers were compared for every question of the survey. RESULTS: Significantly higher proportions of incorrect answers (p<0.05) were found in the questions related to clinical manifestations, 68/52 (p<0.05), species of Plasmodium according to geographical areas, 76/44 (p<0.05), the type of granulations according to species, 96/24 (p<0.01), the class of microscope magnifying glasses used to observe the thick smear, 105/15 (p<0.01), the thick smear report, 76/44 (p<0.01), the time and preparation of different stain solutions, 81/39 (p<0.01), and the number of parasites counted per 200 leukocytes, 96/24 (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Various failures for the microscopic diagnosis of malaria were observed amongst the evaluated technicians. These results will be useful as a baseline study before applying an educational intervention aimed to improve the quality of malaria diagnosis in Luanda's laboratory network.
INTRODUCTION:Malaria is still one of the most important public health problems worldwide. The diagnosis of this disease is still mainly based on thick blood films. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the knowledge about malaria diagnosis of the technicians of the public health network in Luanda, Angola, by means of a survey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This survey was carried out in three phases. In the first one, open interviews were done to technicians related with the different procedures for malaria diagnosis. In the second one, a preliminary questionnaire was prepared and evaluated. In the third phase, a definitive questionnaire was applied to 120 technicians from Luanda between April and July, 2013. The proportions of correct and incorrect answers were compared for every question of the survey. RESULTS: Significantly higher proportions of incorrect answers (p<0.05) were found in the questions related to clinical manifestations, 68/52 (p<0.05), species of Plasmodium according to geographical areas, 76/44 (p<0.05), the type of granulations according to species, 96/24 (p<0.01), the class of microscope magnifying glasses used to observe the thick smear, 105/15 (p<0.01), the thick smear report, 76/44 (p<0.01), the time and preparation of different stain solutions, 81/39 (p<0.01), and the number of parasites counted per 200 leukocytes, 96/24 (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Various failures for the microscopic diagnosis of malaria were observed amongst the evaluated technicians. These results will be useful as a baseline study before applying an educational intervention aimed to improve the quality of malaria diagnosis in Luanda's laboratory network.
Entities:
Keywords:
Angola.; data collection; laboratory personnel; malaria/diagnosis
Authors: Matthew P Horning; Charles B Delahunt; Christine M Bachman; Jennifer Luchavez; Christian Luna; Liming Hu; Mayoore S Jaiswal; Clay M Thompson; Sourabh Kulhare; Samantha Janko; Benjamin K Wilson; Travis Ostbye; Martha Mehanian; Roman Gebrehiwot; Grace Yun; David Bell; Stephane Proux; Jane Y Carter; Wellington Oyibo; Dionicia Gamboa; Mehul Dhorda; Ranitha Vongpromek; Peter L Chiodini; Bernhards Ogutu; Earl G Long; Kyaw Tun; Thomas R Burkot; Ken Lilley; Courosh Mehanian Journal: Malar J Date: 2021-02-25 Impact factor: 2.979