Study setting
Academic Model Providing Access To Healthcare (AMPATH) was established in Kenya in 2001, and has developed an HIV care system in Western Kenya that serves over 100,000 patients.(18) Building upon this foundation, AMPATH has expanded its clinical scope of work in several counties in western Kenya, to address comprehensive primary care, including Non communicable diseases.(19)This study was conducted in two AMPATH supported counties Busia and Trans Nzoia, and two non-AMPATH supported counties, Vihiga and siaya.
Study design
A cross-sectional survey was conducted. Multistage stratified sampling technique was used. Stratification was done by link facility, Community unit (CU), village, age and gender. The sampling frame was based on the list of facilities from the country’s master Facility list, their catchment CUs, and their villages.
The cross-sectional survey was carried out from October 2018 to December 2018 by 10 research assistants. The assistants underwent a 5-day study specific training conducted by the research team. The training involved understanding the content of the questionnaires, the written informed consenting process and data transmission. As part of the training, they pre-tested the tools in Turbo sub-county, Uasin Gishu County.
Prior to data collection reconnaissance meetings were held in all the four counties to introduce the study and the team to the County Health officials as well as the facilities that were involved in the study.
Community health volunteers, Chiefs, and village elders mobilized the community members for the study prior to the data collection process. The interviews were conducted in the homesteads at the convenience of the participants.
Study population
The study targeted all adults aged above 18 years who gave written informed consent and were residing within the four counties. We excluded persons who could not withstand a one hour interview due to illness or very advanced old age >90 years.
Study procedure
An interviewer assisted questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic, socio-economic, NCD knowledge, NHIF awareness and uptake data. The questionnaire was developed in both English and Kiswahili language allowing the research assistant to use either depending on the interviewee’s preference.
Data management and Analysis
Data was collected using an electronic record system and transferred to a REDCap system. Data were cleaned and exported to STATA version 15 for analysis that involved descriptive statistics to describe the NHIF uptake. Bivariate analysis was carried out using Chi square test to assess the association between socio demographic characteristics and NHIF awareness and uptake. Derived variable: Health risk. One was considered high risk if they had been told by a doctor that they suffered from at least one of the following ailments, Diabetes, hypertension, stroke, Myocardial infarction, poor blood pressure, heart failure, kidney disease, following cancers; cervical, esophagus, breast, prostate or any other ailment. Low risk participants were those who had none of the mentioned diseases.
Multivariate logistic regression model to adjust for confounding was used to identify cross sectional predictive factors associated with NHIF uptake and awareness. In all analysis a p-value less than 0.05 was considered to be significant.
Ethical considerations
The proposal was approved by the MTRH/Moi University Institutional Research and Ethics Committee (approval number 0002090), and National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) (approval number NACOSTI/P/18/74238/24329) and the respective four County Health Management Teams (CHMTs). A written informed consent was obtained from all participants enrolled in the study who accepted to participate. Illiterate eligible women had their thumb prints taken and the process was witnessed by an independent adult. The IREC guidelines on confidentiality on research among vulnerable groups were followed. Data confidentiality was ensured by password protecting the computer.