Assessment of quality of care offered to HIV exposed children under 24 months and their mothers during follow up visit at Mzimba North Health Centre- Malawi
Loading...
Date
2017-01-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Literature in the Sub Saharan Africa indicates that, delivery of quality care during follow up period for HIV exposed children is poor leading to high rates of loss to follow up. According to national statistics of 2015 in Malawi, only 16% of HIV exposed children were retained in care at 24 months. Little is known in Malawi regarding the delivery of quality care to HIV exposed children during follow up period. A descriptive quantitative cross sectional study which was guided by Donabedian (SPO) framework was conducted to investigate the quality of care offered to HIV exposed children during follow up period. A sample size of 250 mother - baby pairs attending follow up visit at Mzimba North Health Centre was recruited. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire which was developed based on study objectives. The objectives were to; assess the availability of physical infrastructure, human and material resources for the delivery of quality care (Structure); to assess if children were provided with care according to national guidelines (Process) and to determine mothers’ satisfaction with the care they were provided during follow up visit (Outcome). Results on Structure found infrastructural deficiencies which included inadequate equipment, clients’ waiting area and counsultation rooms and there were also no counselling rooms while on Process, there was a higher uptake on Nevirapine (97.2%) and cotrimoxazole administration (100%), infant Deoxyribonucleic Acid test (89.2%) and exclusive breast feeding (95.6%) however, counselling and growth monitoring were inadequate. Under Outcome, all mothers were satisfied with the care provided. Overall, there were critical service delivery gaps on Structure and Process. It is critical that more efforts are invested on the improvement of these gaps.