Assessment of Utilization of HBCP Services for Children Diagnosed with Chronic and Terminal Illnesses Aged between 1-14 Years in Meru County, Kenya

Introduction: Worldwide, 57 million people died in 2008 from Chronic Illnesses, an estimated 40 million were in need of HBCP services with 6.6 - 10.8 million Children and adolescents dying [1,2]. 98% of Children with Chronic and Terminal illnesses (CI/TI) are found in low and middle-income Countries. Chronic and Terminal illnesses in Children are on the rise in Sub Saharan Africa. Kenya has lagged in implementation of Home Based Care to mitigate effects of CI/TI [3]. According to WHO, 2017 and Ministry of Health-Kenya 2013, millions of Children are affected by these Illnesses such as Tuberculosis, Asthma, Congenital abnormalities, HIV/AIDS and Cancer among others [4,5]. These illnesses have made families’ to suffer emotional, psychosocial and economic hardships [6,7]. Evaluation of utilization of Home Based Care Program (EHBCP) services is significant in assessing effectiveness and quality delivery of HBCP [8,9].

Aims: To assess usage of minimum essential package required in provision of Home Based Care program services for Children aged between 1-14 years diagnosed with selected Chronic and Terminal illnesses in Meru County Kenya.

Study Design: A descriptive Cross Sectional Survey.

Place and Duration of Study: Conducted in Meru County Kenya Health facilities between June 2018 and Dec 2019.

Methodology: Descriptive Cross Sectional Survey of 245 Health Care Providers and Caregivers of Children diagnosed with selected Chronic and Terminal illnesses by proportionate to size sampling and simple random sampling from different health facilities across Meru County was utilized.

Results: Utilization, delivery of quality and effective Home Based Care program was positively associated with age, experience of Health Care Workers (HCWs) 4.8 [95% CI = 1.06 – 21.68, P = 0.041]. HCWs profession, gender and years of work were positively related to utilization and delivery of HBCP services 3.03 [95%CI = 1.64 – 5.59, P<0.001].

Conclusion: Current study concludes that utilization of Minimum HBCP essential package by participants was not effective and the quality delivery of minimum HBCP essential services was inadequate, which agrees with Sips et al., 2014 study that poor service delivery leads to inadequate utilization, it concludes that restructuring HBCP services would meet individual needs for ill Children.