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Multicenter Study
. 2018 Jun 8;18(1):131.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-018-1250-y.

Community-based training of medical students is associated with malaria prevention and treatment seeking behaviour for children under 5 years in Uganda: a study of MESAU-MEPI COBERS in Uganda

James Henry Obol  1 , Peter Akera  2 , Pamela Atim Ochola  2 , Wilfred Arubaku  3 , Hussein Oria  4 , Kenneth Luryama Moi  5 , Denis Anywar Arony  6 , Kaducu Felix  2
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Community-based training of medical students is associated with malaria prevention and treatment seeking behaviour for children under 5 years in Uganda: a study of MESAU-MEPI COBERS in Uganda

James Henry Obol et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Four university medical training institutions in Uganda have trained students at off-site health facilities under community-based education and Research Service (COBERS) programme for over 5 years. One of the major components of COBERS placement is for the students to provide health education in the communities about malaria as a major public health disease in Uganda. This study seeks to assess if targeted community-based medical education programme is associated with better prevention and treatment seeking behaviours in the management of malaria, a leading cause of morbidity and mortality of children under five in Uganda.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was done to compare communities around health facilities where medical students were placed at COBERS sites with communities around similar health facilities where medical students were not placed (non-COBERS sites). We randomly selected two villages near each health facility and consecutively selected 10 households per village for interviews using nearest-neighbour method. We used a structured questionnaire to interview household heads on malaria prevention and treatment seeking behaviour for children under 5 years. We performed univariate analysis to determine site and demographic characteristics and performed a multivariate logistic regression to assess association between dependant and independent variables.

Results: Five hundred twenty-three (66.8%) of the children under 5 years in COBERS communities slept under Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) the night before survey compared with 1451 (57.8%) in non-COBERS communities (AOR = 0.66, p = 0.017). 100 (60.0%) of children under 5 years in COBERS communities sought care for fever within 24 h of onset compared with 268 (47.0%) in non-COBERS communities (AOR = 0.71, P = 0.009).

Conclusion: The presence of COBERS in communities is associated with improved malaria prevention and treatment-seeking behaviour for parents of children under 5 years. Further study needs to be done to determine the long-term impact of COBERS training program on malaria control and prevention in Uganda, along with other effects of COBERS.

Keywords: COBERS; Children under 5; Malaria prevention and treatment seeking behaviour; Uganda.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical approval of the study was obtained from MakCHS School of Medicine Research and Ethics Committee (SOMREC). The study was registered with Uganda National Council for Science and Technology. Each research participant provided a written informed consent to participate in the study after the study procedures, benefits and risks were explained to him/her.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

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