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Browsing Protocol by Author "Divala, Titus"

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    Role of Remote Case Management and community mobilization in managing COVID-19 within the context of a District Health System in Malawi
    (Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, 2022-04-13) Divala, Titus
    4.1 Study Type Cross-sectional study utilising epidemiological and social science methods. 4.2 The problem COVID-19 has had unprecedented impact on health care delivery, individuals, and communities across the world. The extent of impact on healthcare delivery and on rural and urban communities in Malawi remains poorly documented. To improve and minimise COVID-19 impact on healthcare delivery and on communities, Blantyre District Health Office established the Strengthening District COVID-19 Response (SCORE) Project. SCORE, which was supported by Kamuzu College of Health Sciences (KUHES), Cooper Smith, and Georgetown University, included a remote triage platform (termed phone clinic), and a community engagement intervention. These interventions were implemented between March 2021 and September 2021. It is unclear whether the interventions achieved the intended purpose and are worth scaling up ahead of potential further waves of COVID-19. 1.1 Objectives Broad Objective 2 to evaluate the public health benefit of remote case management and community mobilization in managing COVID-19 within the context of a District Health System in Malawi Specific objectives a) To describe the structure and burden of day-to-day management of COVID-19 enquiries and cases in the population and coping mechanisms related to this burden prior to SCORE project implementation of Remote Case Triage Platform and Community-Led Response. b) To assess whether the Remote Case Triage Platform and Community-led Response were successfully implemented against a priori set framework. c) To investigate if the Remote Case Triage Platform and Community-Led Response of the response improved access to COVID-19 information facilitated triaging of patients. d) To establish access, technical, organisational, funding, and other challenges in the set up and implementation of the Remote Case Triage Platform and Community-Led Response interventions. e) To collate thoughts and perspectives around current and future relevance of the Remote Case Triage Platform and Community-led Response, for COVID-19 and other health conditions. 4.3 Methodology This is a cross-sectional study using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. We will collect and analyse data from three sources: 1) questionnaire driven survey including members of the 13-Apr-2022 Page 6 of 23 Evaluation of the SCORE Pilot Project Protocol v1.0, 27 Oct 202107 Apr 2022 District Health Office, healthcare workers, community leaders, community volunteers, and members of communities where the SCORE project operated, 2) focus group discussions including district health leaders, health care workers, community healthcare workers, community leaders, community volunteers and community members, and 3) data from the national and Blantyre electronic platforms for remote patient management (phone clinic, Chipatala cha pa phone). 4.4 Expected findings and their dissemination. We hope to confirm the successful translation and implementation of the SCORE concept into Blantyre District and potential for programmatic scale up. We expect that some administrative and public health benefits may have been registered over the third wave of COVID-19 in Blantyre. We will share results of this work with our institutions (KUHES, Cooper Smith and Georgetown University), present at the KUHES research dissemination conference, international conferences, and publish in a peer-reviewed journal.