Can lay community health workers be trained to use diagnostics to distinguish and treat malaria and pneumonia in children? Lessons from rural Uganda

Abstract

Community health workers can be trained to use RDTs and timers to assess and manage malaria and pneumonia in children. We recommend integration of these diagnostics into community case management of fever. CHWs require enhanced practice in counting respiratory rates and simple job aides to enable them make a classification without thinking deeply about several assessment results.