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Research Article
Revised

Post-Ebola Community Health Worker programme performance in Kenema District, Sierra Leone: A long way to go!

[version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations]
PUBLISHED 09 Apr 2020
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Abstract

Background: The devastating 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone could erode the gains of the health system including the Community Health Worker (CHW) programme. We conducted a study to ascertain if the positive trend in reporting cases of malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea treated by CHWs in the post-Ebola period has been sustained 18 months post-Ebola.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study using aggregated CHW programme data (2013-2017) from all Primary Health Units in Kenema district. Data was extracted from the District Health Information System and analysed using STATA. Data in the pre- (June 2013-April 2014), during- (June 2014-April 2015) and post-Ebola recovery (June 2016-April 2017) periods was compared and analysed for reporting completeness; Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) performed and cases of malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia treated per month. Differences across periods were tested using two-sample t-test with significance set at 0.05.
Results: CHW reporting increased from pre-Ebola by 8% (p-value=0.29) intra-Ebola and 19% (p-value=0.012) post-Ebola. Compared to the pre-Ebola period, in the post-Ebola recovery period, there was a significant increase in the mean monthly reported RDTs of 35% (p-value=0.020); malaria treatments 66% (p-value<0.001); and pneumonia treatments increased by 80% (p-value=0.004). Conversely, the mean monthly diarrhoea cases treated decreased by 20% (p-value=0.16) in the post-Ebola period.
Conclusion: The resiliency demonstrated by the CHW programme during and immediately after the Ebola outbreak has been sustained in the post-Ebola recovery period. Continued programme investments in supportive supervision and financial incentives for CHWs will be critical to ensure uninterrupted contribution towards Sustainable Development Goal 3.

Keywords

Universal Health Coverage, Sustainable Development Goals, health systems, SORT IT, operational research

Revised Amendments from Version 1

We have amended the manuscript based on feedback from peer review. These amendments include additional descriptions of the following: lack of data availability on number of CHWs;  definition of reporting completeness; trend analysis performed;  specific details on CHW programme implementation; and study weaknesses.

See the authors' detailed response to the review by Joanna Raven
See the authors' detailed response to the review by Palanivel Chinnakali

Introduction

The effect of the 2014–2015 West African Ebola outbreak on Community Health Worker (CHW) services in Kenema district, Sierra Leone, was assessed through a retrospective cross-sectional study comparing CHW reporting and services before (June 2013-April 2014), during (June 2014-April 2015) and post-outbreak (November 2015-April 2016)1. The study found CHW reporting completeness and reported treatments for malaria increased post-Ebola, while those for pneumonia and diarrhoea returned to pre-outbreak levels. Results showed CHWs stopped performing Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) during the Ebola period and did not resume until after the outbreak. The study recommended additional investigations into preliminary positive trends in the early post-Ebola period to determine if these post-outbreak tendencies represent a resumption of pre-Ebola CHW programme performance or a continued progression. Therefore, we aimed to understand whether health system performance was sustained 18 months after the outbreak by reporting the trend and comparing CHW system performance (reporting completeness, reported diagnosis and treatment services among reports received) in Kenema district in the pre-, intra- and post-Ebola recovery periods for children under five years.

Methods

This was a retrospective cross-sectional study using aggregate CHW programme data from Kenema district, Sierra Leone. Details of Kenema and the CHW programme were previously described1. The study population included all CHW programme reports from Kenema Peripheral Health Units (PHUs) during the pre- (June 2013–April 2014), intra- (June 2014–April 2015), and post-Ebola recovery (June 2016–April 2017) periods. Data during the month of May 2014 were excluded to prevent potential spill-over effects across periods. Consistent months were deliberately chosen to allow for seasonal comparison across the three periods.

CHW programme data were extracted from the electronic Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) District Health Information Systems (DHIS2), which is aggregated from monthly summary sheets submitted by PHU supervisors. Data on the following variables were extracted per month: facility reporting completeness; reported malaria RDTs; treatment for malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia. The data available did not include variables on number of CHWs per facility. In this study we defined CHW reporting completeness as the proportion of facilities with fully (100%) complete submissions of CHW monthly summary sheets expected for the time period. We imported data into STATA v14.22. We produced descriptive summary statistics and examined statistical differences between periods using two-sample t-test, with significance set at 0.05. We undertook a trend analysis for the periods pre- (June 2013-April 2014), intra- (June 2014–April 2015), and post-Ebola recovery (June 2016–April 2017) periods.

The national distribution of RDT and treatment supplies, which are distributed at the district level through the District Health Management Team’s (DHMT) district store, are supported by the Global Fund. Each DHMT is expected to allocate 30% of the RDTs and drugs to CHWs in the district. Financial incentives for CHWs differ across different districts, depending on the partner supporting the programme in that specific district. In Kenema district, the Global Fund supports the programme and CHWs are provided with a financial incentive of SLL 100,000 per month, as per the National CHW Policy3.

While we do not have data on the number of CHWs in Kenema district, based on population data4 and estimates on CHWs5, we estimate that the district has roughly 1,250 CHWs.

Supervision across the CHW programme operates at different levels. CHW peer supervisors are identified out of every 10 CHWs, with the aim to offer supervision at the PHU level. At the district level, CHWs meet monthly with the PHU in-charges at the DHMT. Supportive supervision is provided from national level on a quarterly basis and which is supported by an assessment tool. During the Ebola outbreak period, the CHWs operated under the supervision of the District Social Mobilization Coordinators and were detecting suspected Ebola cases using the community case definitions6 and childhood illnesses using revised guidelines for the Integrated Community Case Management of Childhood Illnesses (ICCM)7.

The Sierra Leone Ethics and Scientific Review Committee (dated 18 December 2018) and the Ethics Advisory Group of the International Union against Tuberculosis Lung Disease (UAG number 65/18) provided ethics and institutional approval. Since aggregate programme data were used, participant consent was not sought.

Results

Proportion of PHUs reporting complete reports

Figure 1 shows the proportion of facilities with CHW complete reports monthly in the pre-, intra- and post-Ebola recovery periods. The number of PHUs submitting complete CHW reports ranged between 39–129 (27–89%) and 98–134 (68–92%) in the pre- and intra-outbreak periods respectively. However, there were some missing reports. Conversely, in the recovery period, 136 (94%) facilities consistently completed reports each month.

d920a7e6-9cd2-4934-bf61-1ba1bf6743bd_figure1.gif

Figure 1. Proportion of Health Facilities with complete Community Health Workers reports in the District Health Information System, Kenema District, Sierra Leone, in the Pre-, Intra-, and Post-Ebola Recovery Periods.

CHW – community health worker. Pre-Ebola Period – June 2013 – April 2014, Intra-Ebola Period – June 2014 – April 2015, Post-Ebola Recovery Period – June 2016 – April 2017.

Mean monthly RDTs, malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia cases reported

Figure 2 shows trends across pre-, intra- and post-Ebola recovery periods for CHW programme performance indicators. Table 1 shows that the mean monthly reported RDTs had an increasing trend in the pre-, intra- and post-Ebola recovery periods, with increases of 11% intra-Ebola and 35% (p-value=0.012) post-Ebola compared to the pre-Ebola period. The mean monthly malaria treatments reported trends similar to RDTs with increases of 31% (p-value=0.026) and 66% (p-value=0.020) intra-Ebola and post-Ebola, respectively.

d920a7e6-9cd2-4934-bf61-1ba1bf6743bd_figure2.gif

Figure 2. Community Health Worker programme performance indicators for children aged under 5 years in Kenema district, Sierra Leone, in the Pre-, Intra-, and Post-Ebola Recovery Periods.

RDT - Rapid Diagnostic Test. CHW – community health worker. Pre-Ebola Period – June 2013 – April 2014. Intra-Ebola Period – June 2014 – April 2015. Post-Ebola Recovery Period – June 2016 – April 2017.

Table 1. Reported monthly mean values and differences across periods in reference to the Ebola outbreak for performance of Community Health Worker Programme in Kenema District, Sierra Leone.

Reported monthly
mean values
PeriodDifference between pre- and intra-
Ebola periods
Difference between pre- and post-
Ebola recovery periods
Pre-
Ebola
Intra-
Ebola
Post-
Ebola
nnnn%95% CI p-valuen%95% CIp-value
Reporting
completeness
79859468(6, 19)0.291519(4, 27)0.012
RDTs58776538796366111(-1174, 2494)0.46208635(369, 3802) 0.020
Malaria treatment 533869948882165631(222, 3092)0.026354466(2029, 5060)<0.001
Diarrhoea treatment1083627866-456-42(-106, -804)0.013-217-20(-528, 95)0.16
Pneumonia treatment 6996251258-74-11(-370, 223)0.6155980(197, 921)0.004

CI: confidence interval; RDT: rapid diagnostic test. Pre-Ebola: June 2013 – April 2014; Intra-Ebola: June 2014 – April 2015; Post-Ebola Recovery: June 2016 – April 2017.

The mean monthly diarrhoea treatments reported exhibited a downward trend, in the pre- and intra-Ebola periods, followed by a small uptick in the post-Ebola recovery period. However, compared to the pre-Ebola period, overall monthly mean reported treatments significantly decreased by 42% (p-value=0.013) in the intra-Ebola, while the reduction in the post-Ebola recovery period was not statistically significant (p-value=0.16).

The mean reported monthly pneumonia treatments declined by 11% intra-Ebola but grossly increased by 80% (p-value=0.004) during the recovery period compared to the pre-Ebola period (Table 1).

Discussion

Our study results indicate a general trend of the CHW programme in Kenema district sustaining comparable performance levels into the post-Ebola recovery period as compared to pre-Ebola for reporting completeness and reported RDTs, malaria and pneumonia treatments. Comparable to results from the previous study1 and the region8, this may be due to sustained investment in key areas affecting supply and services. The Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response approach, which emphasises active community-based surveillance and completeness of reporting, was strengthened in the intra-Ebola period8. In addition, supportive supervision, a critical element to the success of CHW programmes9, was revived after the outbreak8. Finally, financial incentives for CHWs initiated during the outbreak were subsequently incorporated into the national policy in 20163. Furthermore, the CHWs have reported increased community awareness of signs and symptoms of common childhood illnesses, translating into increased demand for services8.

We found fewer missing reports in the pre- and intra-Ebola periods compared to the previous study1, most likely due to retrospective data entry into the DHIS2. While we found higher mean reported RDTs performed in the post-Ebola period, we still observed fewer in the intra-Ebola period corresponding with the enactment of the “no touch policy,” similar to the previous report1,7,8.

Our results reveal an absolute decline in the reported diarrhoea treatments during the recovery period. The promotion of hygiene practices through community sensitization9,10 and institution of bye-laws by community stakeholders in the intra-Ebola period may have had lasting effects on behaviour and thus contributing to the reduction in reported diarrhoea treatments during the post-Ebola period8. However, the difference in reported treatments between pre- and post-Ebola periods was not found to be significant, so this trend may warrant future investigation.

Utilising pre-Ebola service levels for comparisons, while useful, still reflect benchmarks of weak systems functioning, a factor which contributed to the impact of the Ebola outbreak itself11. Therefore, it is imperative that such comparisons be evaluated in this light. Therefore, in order to achieve the vision of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for good health and wellbeing beyond pre-Ebola-level benchmarks, sustained investments in supportive supervision and financial incentives for CHWs are essential for the programme.

A strength of the study is the use of complete district PHU data for the study period. Furthermore, we adhered to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines for the reporting of observational data and sound ethical principles12. Primary weaknesses of our study were the use of routinely collected data, which was influenced by reporting completeness. In addition, we defined reporting completeness per facility rather than per CHW due to availability of data. The use of routine data also led to a lack of data triangulation; inability to validate the electronic data base against the raw data and to generalise to the national CHW programme. In addition, we were not able to include data on the number of CHWs per facility, as they were not available.

In conclusion, although our study established a sustained trend towards the pre-Ebola CHW service levels 18 months after the outbreak, there is need for continued investment in the CHW programme to continue gains in programme performance in order to contribute towards SDG 3.

Data availability

Underlying data

Open Science Framework: Thomas_Harold_SORTIT2_CHW_data 2019. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/2S83W13.

Data are available under the terms of the Creative Commons Zero "No rights reserved" data waiver (CC0 1.0 Public domain dedication).

The Sierra Leone Health Management Information Systems, the District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2), is accessible with a Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) login through https://sl.dhis2.org/. The Directorate of Policy, Planning, and Information (DPPI) can be contacted to arrange access through Dr. Francis Smart (drfsmart@gmail.com), Director, DPPI, MoHS.

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Thomas H, Hann K, Vandi M et al. Post-Ebola Community Health Worker programme performance in Kenema District, Sierra Leone: A long way to go! [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2020, 8:794 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.18677.2)
NOTE: If applicable, it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
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Current Reviewer Status: ?
Key to Reviewer Statuses VIEW
ApprovedThe paper is scientifically sound in its current form and only minor, if any, improvements are suggested
Approved with reservations A number of small changes, sometimes more significant revisions are required to address specific details and improve the papers academic merit.
Not approvedFundamental flaws in the paper seriously undermine the findings and conclusions
Version 2
VERSION 2
PUBLISHED 09 Apr 2020
Revised
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Reviewer Report 26 May 2020
Joanna Raven, Department of International Public Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK 
Approved with Reservations
VIEWS 12
I don’t think the authors have really responded to my comment 2 (which is also linked to the response to comment 1). The CHW programme ie. the way that supervision and incentives were provided may affect how well the reporting ... Continue reading
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Raven J. Reviewer Report For: Post-Ebola Community Health Worker programme performance in Kenema District, Sierra Leone: A long way to go! [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2020, 8:794 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.25602.r62169)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
Version 1
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PUBLISHED 06 Jun 2019
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Reviewer Report 13 Aug 2019
Joanna Raven, Department of International Public Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK 
Approved with Reservations
VIEWS 16
This is an interesting study which investigates the CHW system performance pre, during and post Ebola periods looking at CHW reporting, reported diagnosis and treatment services. It particularly looks at sustained trends of performance 18 months after the end of Ebola. ... Continue reading
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CITE
HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Raven J. Reviewer Report For: Post-Ebola Community Health Worker programme performance in Kenema District, Sierra Leone: A long way to go! [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2020, 8:794 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.20451.r51795)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
  • Author Response 09 Apr 2020
    Katrina Hann, Sustainable Health Systems, Freetown, Sierra Leone
    09 Apr 2020
    Author Response
    We have carefully read through the peer review and have revised our manuscript accordingly. We see the manuscript as improved as a result of this peer review process, and thank ... Continue reading
COMMENTS ON THIS REPORT
  • Author Response 09 Apr 2020
    Katrina Hann, Sustainable Health Systems, Freetown, Sierra Leone
    09 Apr 2020
    Author Response
    We have carefully read through the peer review and have revised our manuscript accordingly. We see the manuscript as improved as a result of this peer review process, and thank ... Continue reading
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12
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Reviewer Report 24 Jun 2019
Palanivel Chinnakali, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, Puducherry, India 
Approved
VIEWS 12
The manuscript is written well.
  1. It will be better to provide some more background about the scale of involvement of CHWs during Ebola outbreak. How CHWs were involved, time points when the Ebola cases came down,
... Continue reading
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HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Chinnakali P. Reviewer Report For: Post-Ebola Community Health Worker programme performance in Kenema District, Sierra Leone: A long way to go! [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2020, 8:794 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.20451.r49603)
NOTE: it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
  • Author Response 09 Apr 2020
    Katrina Hann, Sustainable Health Systems, Freetown, Sierra Leone
    09 Apr 2020
    Author Response
    RE: Post-Ebola Community Health Worker programme performance in Kenema District, Sierra Leone: A long way to go! [version 1; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations]
     
     
    We have carefully read ... Continue reading
COMMENTS ON THIS REPORT
  • Author Response 09 Apr 2020
    Katrina Hann, Sustainable Health Systems, Freetown, Sierra Leone
    09 Apr 2020
    Author Response
    RE: Post-Ebola Community Health Worker programme performance in Kenema District, Sierra Leone: A long way to go! [version 1; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations]
     
     
    We have carefully read ... Continue reading

Comments on this article Comments (0)

Version 2
VERSION 2 PUBLISHED 06 Jun 2019
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Alongside their report, reviewers assign a status to the article:
Approved - the paper is scientifically sound in its current form and only minor, if any, improvements are suggested
Approved with reservations - A number of small changes, sometimes more significant revisions are required to address specific details and improve the papers academic merit.
Not approved - fundamental flaws in the paper seriously undermine the findings and conclusions
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