African health sciences
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African health sciences · Apr 2004
Multicenter StudyHealth providers' counselling of caregivers in the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) programme in Uganda.
IMCI was launched in Uganda in June 1995 and has so far been implemented in most districts. However, reports indicate that counselling is poorly performed and that health providers find IMCI counselling the most difficult component to implement. ⋯ The performance of health providers was good in 9 out of 20 IMCI counselling items, and cadre of health provider, IMCI experience, number of supervisory visits and praise of health provider were associated with IMCI counselling. Improvements in IMCI counselling could be achieved through emphasis on use of IMCI job aids; strengthening support supervision and providing positive feedback to health providers. The issue of availability of pre-referral drugs should be addressed by ensuring that these drugs are part of the essential drug kit. Finally, health providers should be trained and encouraged to address the health of the caregivers as well.