2. Barriers to Treatment
MRF funded research into barriers of
recognition and action in treating ABM in
Malawi
Recognition barriers:
• Misdiagnosis of malaria or other illness
• Low recognition of severity of illness and
need for social validation in community
3. Barriers to Treatment
Action barriers:
• Priority focus on maternal health
• Negative perceptions of health services
(wait time, attention by health workers)
• Financial constraints in community
• Gender and age-based decision making
in community
4. Situation Analysis
• Patients queue and wait for hours at
primary clinics- first come, first served
• Limited number of health
workers, equipment and supplies
• Patients have to wait hours/days for
ambulance transport
• Some die while waiting for assistance or
transport
5. Action Meningitis
• Targeting health workers to break down
barriers to treatment, improve treatment
rates and healthcare delivery in Malawi
and improve outcomes in children
• Public awareness messages of
meningitis signs & symptoms to raise
awareness amongst public and prevent
misdiagnosis
6. Primary Health Clinics
• Priority: Improve identification of severe illness in
children for treatment & referral to hospital using
WHO triage system
• Urban and peri-urban clinics with varying
catchment populations
7. Primary Health Clinics
• Training frontline health workers
• Evaluating effectiveness and feasibility of triage
system
8. mHealth & ETAT
Using mobile
technology to
improve health Emergency
(mHealth)
to establish WHO Priority
Emergency Triage
Assessment and Queue
Treatment (ETAT)
system in clinics
9. mHealth & ETAT
• Developing phone
application of ETAT for
health workers to screen
children upon arrival/ in
queue
• Using phone data to
track ETAT classification
and hospital referrals
10. Community Awareness
• Health Talk weekly radio programme on
MBC- national radio
• Health research news to Radio
Listening Clubs and public
• 8 episodes focusing on meningitis to
improve recognition in communities
12. Partners
• Partnering with Malawi-Liverpool-
Wellcome Trust, Malawi Ministry of
Health, hospital and primary clinics in
Blantyre
• Working with D-tree International for
mHealth component
• Assessing feasibility and expansion
across Malawi
13. Project Outcomes
• Prioritise ill children and reduce wait
times at clinics
• Track referrals to hospital for severe
illness in children
• Increase knowledge and awareness of
meningitis amongst public
• Provide ambi-bikes for medical
emergency transport