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. 2022 Jan 21;20(1):10.
doi: 10.1186/s12960-022-00704-5.

Effectiveness of community health workers on identification and mobilization of persons living with epilepsy in rural Rwanda using a validated screening tool

Fidele Sebera  1   2   3 , Peter Dedeken  4   5   6   7 , Jeannine Kayirangwa  8 , Josiane Umwiringirwa  1 , Delphine Kajeneza  1   9 , Nicole Alves Dos Reis  10 , Tim Leers  11 , Dirk E Teuwen  3   12 , Paul A J M Boon  3   12
Affiliations

Effectiveness of community health workers on identification and mobilization of persons living with epilepsy in rural Rwanda using a validated screening tool

Fidele Sebera et al. Hum Resour Health. .

Abstract

Introduction: Engagement and training of community health workers (CHWs) have demonstrated their value in different conditions. Despite repeat epilepsy trainings of CHWs in Northern Rwanda, the treatment gap remained high. We hypothesized that effectiveness of CHWs on mobilization of patients living with epilepsy (PwE) could be improved using a validated tool for epilepsy screening.

Methods: CHWs associated with health centers (HCs) of Gataraga, Kimonyi and Karwasa attended a 1-day training on epilepsy and Limoges epilepsy screening questionnaire (Kinyarwanda version). Thereafter, CHWs screened households in their villages for persons with one or more positive answer. CHWs then accompanied positively screened persons to a consultation for clinical evaluation and diagnosis by neurologists, and demographic data were collected. CHW variables were collected retrospectively.

Results: A total of 1308 persons were screened positive by 281 CHWs. Clinical diagnosis of epilepsy was confirmed in 589 and in 93 additional unscreened PwE, presenting voluntarily at the consultation. Pre-intervention number of 48 PwE increased to 682 after, a 14.2-fold increase. The overall treatment gap amounted to 93.0%. The age distribution of male PwE preponderance at younger age inverted to females at older age. CHW characteristics showed non-significant differences within and across HCs. Logistic regression did not relate CHW age, gender, and experience to screening results.

Discussion: Equipping CHWs with a validated screening tool was effective in identifying and mobilizing PwE in a short time frame and offers opportunity for future scaling. Nonetheless, barriers to sustainability of care will need to be addressed before.

Keywords: Community health workers; Epilepsy; Health surveys; Rwanda; Work engagement.

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Conflict of interest statement

DET is an employee of UCB Pharma, now retired. PD has received consultancy fees from UCB Pharma, Merck, and Novartis Pharma. PAMJB has received speaker and consultancy fees from UCB Pharma and various other pharmaceutical companies, and research grants through his institution. DK received an unrestricted grant from the UCB Corporate Societal Responsibility department to complete the Master of Neurology training at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop (Dakar, Senegal). TL received compensation for performing the statistical analysis and creating visualizations. Other authors have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Left: distribution of patients who screened positive, confirmed epilepsy diagnosis and treatment gap. Right: distribution of persons voluntarily presenting without screening
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Number of PwE per HC pre- and post-intervention
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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