Abstract:

Introduction: World Health Organization (WHO) in 2010 recommended the malaria Test, Treat and Track (T3) policy that emphasized diagnostic confirmation of all suspected malaria cases before treatment and tracking all of them. This study assessed key influencing factor for successful implementation of T3 strategy for malaria by health workers in public and private health facilities in four districts in Northern Uganda.

Methods and materials: Across sectional descriptive study was conducted in 115 public and 42 private health facilities involving 489 health workers,63 community health workers (CHWs) and seven district officials in Apac, Dokolo, Gulu and Nwoya districts. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were triangulated.

Results: Over 85% of the health facilities had not experienced stock out of antimalarial drugs and malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests (mRDTs) within 7 days of the study. And 97%, 84% and 54% of the health workers in public, Private Not for Profit (PNFP), Private for Profit (PFP) health facilities respectively were knowledgeable and competently practicing the T3 policy. The knowledge among health workers in PFP on T3 policy was significantly lower than that of their counterparts in the public facilities (P < 0.001). Each health facility in the study had at least one staff trained in integrated Malaria Management (IMM) that includes parasite based Test, Treat and Track of malaria cases (T3).

Conclusion: The successful implementation of T3 strategy in public health facilities in the four districts was due to availability of a number of enabling factors and few constraints.

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