Management of acute respiratory infections by community health volunteers: experience of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC).

OBJECTIVE: To assess the role of management practices for acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in improving the competency of community health volunteers in diagnosing and treating acute respiratory infections among children. METHODS: Data were collected by a group of research physicians who observed the performance of a sample of 120 health volunteers in 10 sub-districts in Bangladesh in which Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) had run a community-based ARI control programme since mid-1992. Standardized tests were conducted until the 95% interphysician reliability on the observation of clinical examination was achieved. FINDINGS: The sensitivity, specificity, and overall agreement rates in diagnosing and treating ARIs were significantly higher among the health volunteers who had basic training and were supervised routinely than among those…