Cargando…

Health care workers’ knowledge on identification, management and treatment of snakebite cases in rural Malawi: A descriptive study

Snakebite envenoming remains a public health threat in many African countries, including Malawi. However, there is a shortage of literature on the knowledge of Health Care Workers (HCWs) and the prevalence of snakebite cases in Malawi. We interviewed HCWs in Neno District to assess their knowledge o...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Aron, Moses Banda, Kachimanga, Chiyembekezo, Kreuels, Benno, Mailosi, Bright, Sambani, Clara, Matanje, Beatrice Lydia, Blessmann, Joerg, Chunga, Mwayi, Momba, Grace, Ndarama, Enoch, Kambalame, Dzinkambani Moffat, Connolly, Emilia, Rosenthal, Anat, Munyaneza, Fabien
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9678285/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36409666
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010841
_version_ 1784833958399180800
author Aron, Moses Banda
Kachimanga, Chiyembekezo
Kreuels, Benno
Mailosi, Bright
Sambani, Clara
Matanje, Beatrice Lydia
Blessmann, Joerg
Chunga, Mwayi
Momba, Grace
Ndarama, Enoch
Kambalame, Dzinkambani Moffat
Connolly, Emilia
Rosenthal, Anat
Munyaneza, Fabien
author_facet Aron, Moses Banda
Kachimanga, Chiyembekezo
Kreuels, Benno
Mailosi, Bright
Sambani, Clara
Matanje, Beatrice Lydia
Blessmann, Joerg
Chunga, Mwayi
Momba, Grace
Ndarama, Enoch
Kambalame, Dzinkambani Moffat
Connolly, Emilia
Rosenthal, Anat
Munyaneza, Fabien
author_sort Aron, Moses Banda
collection PubMed
description Snakebite envenoming remains a public health threat in many African countries, including Malawi. However, there is a shortage of literature on the knowledge of Health Care Workers (HCWs) and the prevalence of snakebite cases in Malawi. We interviewed HCWs in Neno District to assess their knowledge of snake identification and management of snakebites. We further reviewed patient registers from 2018 to 2021 in all 15 health facilities in the district. We used descriptive statistics to characterize the survey population, knowledge, snake antivenom (SAV) administration, and snake identification. Using "shapefiles" from Open Street Maps, we mapped villages with snakebite cases. Of the 105 HCWs interviewed, 58% were males, and 60% had worked for less than five years. The majority (n = 93, 89%) reported that snakebite envenoming was a problem in the district. Among the clinicians, 42% said they had prescribed SAV previously, while among nurses, only 26% had ever administered SAV. There were discrepancies among clinicians regarding the dosing of snake antivenom. Significant gaps in knowledge also existed regarding snake identification. While two-thirds of HCWs could correctly name and identify venomous snake species, most (> 90%) failed for non-venomous snakes. Most (n = 100, 95%) reported that snakebite victims visit traditional healers more than the hospital. Between 2018 and 2021, the Neno District registered 185 snakebites with a yearly average of 36 cases per 100,000 population. Fifty-two percent (n = 97) were treated as an inpatient; of these cases, 72% were discharged in less than three days, and two died. More snakebite cases were recorded in the eastern part of the district. Significant knowledge gaps exist among HCWs in Neno regarding prescription and administration of SAV and snake identification, which likely challenges the quality of services offered to snakebite victims.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9678285
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-96782852022-11-22 Health care workers’ knowledge on identification, management and treatment of snakebite cases in rural Malawi: A descriptive study Aron, Moses Banda Kachimanga, Chiyembekezo Kreuels, Benno Mailosi, Bright Sambani, Clara Matanje, Beatrice Lydia Blessmann, Joerg Chunga, Mwayi Momba, Grace Ndarama, Enoch Kambalame, Dzinkambani Moffat Connolly, Emilia Rosenthal, Anat Munyaneza, Fabien PLoS Negl Trop Dis Research Article Snakebite envenoming remains a public health threat in many African countries, including Malawi. However, there is a shortage of literature on the knowledge of Health Care Workers (HCWs) and the prevalence of snakebite cases in Malawi. We interviewed HCWs in Neno District to assess their knowledge of snake identification and management of snakebites. We further reviewed patient registers from 2018 to 2021 in all 15 health facilities in the district. We used descriptive statistics to characterize the survey population, knowledge, snake antivenom (SAV) administration, and snake identification. Using "shapefiles" from Open Street Maps, we mapped villages with snakebite cases. Of the 105 HCWs interviewed, 58% were males, and 60% had worked for less than five years. The majority (n = 93, 89%) reported that snakebite envenoming was a problem in the district. Among the clinicians, 42% said they had prescribed SAV previously, while among nurses, only 26% had ever administered SAV. There were discrepancies among clinicians regarding the dosing of snake antivenom. Significant gaps in knowledge also existed regarding snake identification. While two-thirds of HCWs could correctly name and identify venomous snake species, most (> 90%) failed for non-venomous snakes. Most (n = 100, 95%) reported that snakebite victims visit traditional healers more than the hospital. Between 2018 and 2021, the Neno District registered 185 snakebites with a yearly average of 36 cases per 100,000 population. Fifty-two percent (n = 97) were treated as an inpatient; of these cases, 72% were discharged in less than three days, and two died. More snakebite cases were recorded in the eastern part of the district. Significant knowledge gaps exist among HCWs in Neno regarding prescription and administration of SAV and snake identification, which likely challenges the quality of services offered to snakebite victims. Public Library of Science 2022-11-21 /pmc/articles/PMC9678285/ /pubmed/36409666 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010841 Text en © 2022 Aron et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Aron, Moses Banda
Kachimanga, Chiyembekezo
Kreuels, Benno
Mailosi, Bright
Sambani, Clara
Matanje, Beatrice Lydia
Blessmann, Joerg
Chunga, Mwayi
Momba, Grace
Ndarama, Enoch
Kambalame, Dzinkambani Moffat
Connolly, Emilia
Rosenthal, Anat
Munyaneza, Fabien
Health care workers’ knowledge on identification, management and treatment of snakebite cases in rural Malawi: A descriptive study
title Health care workers’ knowledge on identification, management and treatment of snakebite cases in rural Malawi: A descriptive study
title_full Health care workers’ knowledge on identification, management and treatment of snakebite cases in rural Malawi: A descriptive study
title_fullStr Health care workers’ knowledge on identification, management and treatment of snakebite cases in rural Malawi: A descriptive study
title_full_unstemmed Health care workers’ knowledge on identification, management and treatment of snakebite cases in rural Malawi: A descriptive study
title_short Health care workers’ knowledge on identification, management and treatment of snakebite cases in rural Malawi: A descriptive study
title_sort health care workers’ knowledge on identification, management and treatment of snakebite cases in rural malawi: a descriptive study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9678285/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36409666
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010841
work_keys_str_mv AT aronmosesbanda healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT kachimangachiyembekezo healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT kreuelsbenno healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT mailosibright healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT sambaniclara healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT matanjebeatricelydia healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT blessmannjoerg healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT chungamwayi healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT mombagrace healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT ndaramaenoch healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT kambalamedzinkambanimoffat healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT connollyemilia healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT rosenthalanat healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy
AT munyanezafabien healthcareworkersknowledgeonidentificationmanagementandtreatmentofsnakebitecasesinruralmalawiadescriptivestudy