Abstract:
Introduction: Epilepsy affects 1 to 2% of the
world’s population with low- and middleincome countries bearing the greatest burden
of the disease. Kenya has reported 4%
prevalence in rural areas. The epilepsy
treatment gap in Sub-Saharan Africa is
estimated between 75 to 90%, compared to
less than 10% in high-income countries1. The
Addis Clinic, a nonprofit organization, uses
telemedicine technology to address this gap by
connecting frontline health workers (FHWs) in
rural Kenya with specialist physicians located
globally. We leveraged The Addis Clinic’s
platform and network of FHWs in Kenya to
identify factors contributing to epilepsy
treatment gaps, assess resources, and design
interventions to address any reported gaps and
challenges.
Objective: Investigate resources, current
practices, training, challenges, and utilization
of national guidelines by health care workers in
the daily management of seizures and epilepsy
amongst patients presenting to health care
facilities in Kenya.
Methods: We developed a targeted survey
aimed to assess epilepsy care observed by
FHWs of The Addis Clinic network and Moi
Teaching and Referral Hospital. The survey
examined six domains: (1) demographics and
practice type, (2) current understanding of
epilepsy, (3) epilepsy training and level of
confidence, (4) utilization of Kenya National
Guidelines for the Management of Epilepsy
(KNGME 2016)3,
, (5) resources and barriers for
epilepsy care, and (6) use of telemedicine.
Survey responses were collated using an online
survey. Descriptive statistics and generalized
linear models were used for survey analysis.
