Hacking cough: Study demonstrates treating pneumonia at home can be effective
More than 80% of parents living in rural areas are aware of the disease.
KARACHI:
While pneumonia continues to be the leading cause of death in the world, with one-fifth of the fatalities in Pakistan, a recent study shows that home treatment in rural areas of the country can be as effective as one at a healthcare facility.
A study published in The Lancet was conducted by the Aga Khan University Hospital’s (AKUH) division of women and child health in collaboration with the national Lady Health Workers programme, Boston University’s centre for global health and development and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) department of child and adolescent health. “More than 80% of parents living in rural areas were aware of pneumonia,” said the assistant professor from the department of paediatrics and child health and one of the study’s researchers, Dr Sajid Soofi. “Most people are concerned about the cost of transport from homes to the healthcare facility.” In most cases the distance to the closest healthcare facility is about 10 kilometres. Dr Soofi added that this is where the lady health workers can make a significant difference by diagnosis and referring or treating the condition early.
The principal investigator for the Matiari study and chair for the division of women and child health at AKUH, Prof. Zulfiqar A Bhutta said that the point of the study was to see whether lady health workers could manage to do a good job with treating children and the answer is yes, they can.
Researchers of the study propose that an oral antibiotic, Amoxicillin, could be given at home instead of an intravenous antibiotic given at most healthcare facilities as recommended by WHO. In 2008, nearly 1.6 million children died because of pneumonia and 84,210 of them were from Pakistan.
The proposal was made by keeping in mind parents who are unable to bring children to a healthcare facility.
According to Soofi, lady health workers had diagnosed more than 95% of the cases accurately. “We found that with training, public sector LHWs in Pakistan were able to satisfactorily diagnose and treat severe pneumonia at home in rural Pakistan,” said Bhutta.
The trial was carried out in Matiari, 250 kilometres north of Karachi with 1,600 villages and an estimated population of 600,000 and a high rate of pneumonia.
Researchers said that the study covered a representative rural population in Sindh where the medical condition was prevalent. “The point was to do the study in tough areas first but we are quite keen to see how successful it will be in other areas as well,” said Bhutta while talking to The Express Tribune. “For example in Balochistan, there is no doctor in sight for quite a distance in such situations at least there is some reliable alternative as opposed to doing nothing.”
The researchers suggested that the findings of this study could also be applied in Balochistan and Punjab.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2012.
While pneumonia continues to be the leading cause of death in the world, with one-fifth of the fatalities in Pakistan, a recent study shows that home treatment in rural areas of the country can be as effective as one at a healthcare facility.
A study published in The Lancet was conducted by the Aga Khan University Hospital’s (AKUH) division of women and child health in collaboration with the national Lady Health Workers programme, Boston University’s centre for global health and development and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) department of child and adolescent health. “More than 80% of parents living in rural areas were aware of pneumonia,” said the assistant professor from the department of paediatrics and child health and one of the study’s researchers, Dr Sajid Soofi. “Most people are concerned about the cost of transport from homes to the healthcare facility.” In most cases the distance to the closest healthcare facility is about 10 kilometres. Dr Soofi added that this is where the lady health workers can make a significant difference by diagnosis and referring or treating the condition early.
The principal investigator for the Matiari study and chair for the division of women and child health at AKUH, Prof. Zulfiqar A Bhutta said that the point of the study was to see whether lady health workers could manage to do a good job with treating children and the answer is yes, they can.
Researchers of the study propose that an oral antibiotic, Amoxicillin, could be given at home instead of an intravenous antibiotic given at most healthcare facilities as recommended by WHO. In 2008, nearly 1.6 million children died because of pneumonia and 84,210 of them were from Pakistan.
The proposal was made by keeping in mind parents who are unable to bring children to a healthcare facility.
According to Soofi, lady health workers had diagnosed more than 95% of the cases accurately. “We found that with training, public sector LHWs in Pakistan were able to satisfactorily diagnose and treat severe pneumonia at home in rural Pakistan,” said Bhutta.
The trial was carried out in Matiari, 250 kilometres north of Karachi with 1,600 villages and an estimated population of 600,000 and a high rate of pneumonia.
Researchers said that the study covered a representative rural population in Sindh where the medical condition was prevalent. “The point was to do the study in tough areas first but we are quite keen to see how successful it will be in other areas as well,” said Bhutta while talking to The Express Tribune. “For example in Balochistan, there is no doctor in sight for quite a distance in such situations at least there is some reliable alternative as opposed to doing nothing.”
The researchers suggested that the findings of this study could also be applied in Balochistan and Punjab.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2012.