IMPORTANCE In rural India, as in many developing countries, childhood mortality remains high and the quality of health care available is low. Improving care in such settings, where most health care practitioners do not have formal training, requires an assessment of the practitioners’ knowledge of appropriate care and the actual care delivered (the know-do gap). OBJECTIVE To assess the knowledge of local health care practitioners and the quality of care provided by them for childhood diarrhea and pneumonia in rural Bihar, India. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS We conducted an observational, cross-sectional study of the knowledge and practice of 340 health care practitioners concerning the diagnosis and treatment of childhood diarrhea and pneumonia in Bihar, India, from June 29 through September 8, 2012. We used data from vignette interviews and unannounced standardized patients (SPs). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES For SPs and vignettes, practitioner performance was measured using the numbers of key diagnostic questions asked and examinations conducted. The know-do gap was calculated by comparing fractions of practitioners asking key diagnostic questions on each method. Multivariable regressions examined the relation among diagnostic performance, prescription of potentially harmful treatments, and the practitioners’ characteristics. We also examined correct treatment recommended by practitioners with both methods. RESULTS Practitioners asked a mean of 2.9 diagnostic questions and suggested a mean of 0.3 examinations in the diarrhea vignette; mean numbers were 1.4 and 0.8, respectively, for the pneumonia vignette. Although oral rehydration salts, the correct treatment for diarrhea, are commonly available, only 3.5% of practitioners offered them in the diarrhea vignette. With SPs, no practitioner offered the correct treatment for diarrhea, and 13.0% of practitioners offered the correct treatment for pneumonia. Diarrhea treatment has a large know-do gap; practitioners asked diagnostic questions more frequently in vignettes than for SPs. Although only 20.9% of practitioners prescribed treatments that were potentially harmful in the diarrhea vignettes, 71.9% offered them to SPs (P < .001). Unqualified practitioners were more likely to prescribe potentially harmful treatments for diarrhea (adjusted odds ratio, 5.11 [95% CI, 1.24–21.13]). Higher knowledge scores were associated with better performance for treating diarrhea but not pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Practitioners performed poorly with vignettes and SPs, with large know-do gaps, especially for childhood diarrhea. Efforts to improve health care for major causes of childhood mortality should emphasize strategies that encourage pediatric health care practitioners to diagnose and manage these conditions correctly through better monitoring and incentives in addition to practitioner training initiatives.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

BackgroundNon-communicable diseases (NCDs) are increasing in prevalence in low-income countries including Uganda. The Uganda Ministry of Health has prioritized NCD prevention, early diagnosis, and management. However, research on the capacity of public sector health facilities to address NCDs is limited.MethodsWe developed a survey guided by the literature and the standards of the World Health Organization Pacakage of Essential Noncommunicable Disease Interventions for Primary Health Care in Low-Resource Settings. We used this tool to conduct a needs assessment in 53 higher-level public sector facilities throughout Uganda, including all Regional Referral Hospitals (RRH) and a purposive sample of General Hospitals (GH) and Health Centre IVs (HCIV), to: (1) assess their capacity to detect and manage NCDs; (2) describe provider knowledge and practices regarding the management of NCDs; and (3) identify areas in need of focused improvement. We collected data on human resources, equipment, NCD screening and management, medicines, and laboratory tests. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize our findings.ResultsWe identified significant resource gaps at all sampled facilities. All facilities reported deficiencies in NCD screening and management services. Less than half of all RRH and GH had an automated blood pressure machine. The only laboratory test uniformly available at all surveyed facilities was random blood glucose. Sub-specialty NCD clinics were available in some facilities with the most common type being a diabetes clinic present at eleven (85%) RRHs. These facilities offered enhanced services to patients with diabetes. Surveyed facilities had limited use of NCD patient registries and NCD management guidelines. Most facilities (46% RRH, 23% GH, 7% HCIV) did not track patients with NCDs by using registries and only 4 (31%) RRHs, 4 (15%) GHs, and 1 (7%) HCIVs had access to diabetes management guidelines.ConclusionsDespite inter-facility variability, none of the facilities in our study met the WHO-PEN standards for essential tools and medicines to implement effective NCD interventions. In Uganda, improvements in the allocation of human resources and essential medicines and technologies, coupled with uptake in the use of quality assurance modalities are desperately needed in order to adequately address the rapidly growing NCD burden.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-018-3426-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The prevalence of some noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in East Africa is beginning to match that in high-income countries. Though the epidemiologic, demographic, and nutritional transitions are well under way in low-income countries, investment and attention in these countries remain focused largely on communicable diseases. We discuss existing infrastructure in communicable disease management as well as linkages between noncommunicable and communicable diseases in East Africa. We describe gaps in NCD management within the health systems in East Africa. We also discuss deficiencies in addressing NCDs from basic science research and medical training to health service delivery, public health initiatives and access to essential medications in East Africa. Finally, we highlight the role of collaboration among East African governments and civil society in addressing NCDs and advocate for a robust primary healthcare system that focuses on the social determinants of health.

ObjectiveAlthough the WHO-developed Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool is a comprehensive and widely applied survey of health facility preparedness, SARA data have not previously been used to model predictors of readiness. We sought to demonstrate that SARA data can be used to model availability of essential medicines for treating non-communicable diseases (EM-NCD).MethodsWe fit a Poisson regression model using 2013 SARA data from 196 Ugandan health facilities. The outcome was total number of different EM-NCD available. Basic amenities, equipment, region, health facility type, managing authority, NCD diagnostic capacity, and range of HIV services were tested as predictor variables.FindingsIn multivariate models, we found significant associations between EM-NCD availability and region, managing authority, facility type, and range of HIV services. For-profit facilities’ EM-NCD counts were 98% higher than public facilities (p < .001). General hospitals and referral health centers had 98% (p = .004) and 105% (p = .002) higher counts compared to primary health centers. Facilities in the North and East had significantly lower counts than those in the capital region (p = 0.015; p = 0.003). Offering HIV care was associated with 35% lower EM-NCD counts (p = 0.006). Offering HIV counseling and testing was associated with 57% higher counts (p = 0.048).ConclusionWe identified multiple within-country disparities in availability of EM-NCD in Uganda. Our findings can be used to identify gaps and guide distribution of limited resources. While the primary purpose of SARA is to assess and monitor health services readiness, we show that it can also be an important resource for answering complex research and policy questions requiring multivariate analysis.