Evaluation of Medical Technologies Used to Manage Malaria in Efoulan Health District of Yaounde-Cameroon

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed at evaluating medical technologies used to manage malaria at Efoulan health’s district. Problem: With almost 3 million of confirmed cases per year, malaria is the disease that most affects Cameroonians. From March 2020, Cameroon witnessed the advent of massive cases of COVID-19, whose symptoms almost coincide with those of malaria, causing a mix of medical technologies meanwhile, populations and medical personnel are required not to get confused between malaria and Covid-19. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional qualitative study for analytical purposes at three levels of comparative analyzes (Malaria protocol, Malaria equipment, and Malaria drugs) using Anova and Pearson correlation. Results: Our study revealed that Malaria protocol in hospitals was moderately and positively correlated to WHO (2023) [1] guidelines at 41.8% [r(30) = .41.8, 95%, p = .019]. Malaria equipment found within the community were statistically significantly different (F(2, 96) = [10.688], p = 0.00) from those recommended by Long (2009) [2] (p = 0.001, 95% C.I. = [-2.01, -0.41]). Antimalarial drugs used within the community and in hospitals were respectively moderately positively correlated at 43.5% [r(20) = .435, 95%, p = .043] and highly positively correlated at 53.3% [r(20) = .533, 95%, p = .011] to WHO (2023) [1] guidelines. Conclusion: To strengthen malaria control, health education on complete malaria protocol must be carried out, first aid medical centers must be better equipped, drugs must be prescribed according to patient’s histories and pre-referral treatments must be applied within the community while integrating traditional concoctions into modern medicine.