Managing pneumonia through facility-based integrated management of childhood management (IMCI) services: an analysis of the service availability and readiness among public health facilities in Bangladesh
BACKGROUND: With an estimated 24,000 deaths per year, pneumonia is the single largest cause of death among young children in Bangladesh, accounting for 18% of all under-5 deaths. The Government of Bangladesh adopted the WHO recommended Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI)-strategy in 1998 for outpatient management of pneumonia, which was scaled-up nationally by 2014. This paper reports the service availability and readiness related to IMCI-based pneumonia management in Bangladesh. We conducted a secondary analysis of the Bangladesh Health Facility Survey-2017, which was conducted with a nationally representative sample including all administrative divisions and types of health facilities. We limited our analysis to District Hospitals (DHs), Maternal and Child Welfare Centres (MCWCs), Upazila (sub-district) Health Complexes (UHCs), and Union Health and Family Welfare Centres (UH&FWCs), which are mandated to provide IMCI services. Readiness was reported based on 10 items identified by national experts as 'essential' for pneumonia management. RESULTS: More than 90% of DHs and UHCs, and three-fourths of UH&FWCs and MCWCs provide IMCI-based pneumonia management services. Less than two-third of the staff had ever received IMCI-based pneumonia training. Only one-third of the facilities had a functional ARI timer or a watch able to record seconds on the day of the visit. Pulse oximetry was available in 27% of the district hospitals, 18% of the UHCs and none of the UH&FWCs. Although more than 80% of the facilities had amoxicillin syrup or dispersible tablets, only 16% had injectable gentamicin. IMCI service registers were not available in nearly one-third of the facilities and monthly reporting forms were not available in around 10% of the facilities. Only 18% of facilities had a high-readiness (score 8–10), whereas 20% had a low-readiness (score 0–4). The readiness was significantly poorer among rural and lower level facilities (p < 0.001). Seventy-two percent of the UHCs had availability of ...