Executive Summary

Sepsis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Low-Middle-Income Countries such as
Nigeria, the high mortality rate is linked to lack of awareness and delay in seeking medical treatment among
sepsis patients. Low level of knowledge on sepsis, leading to poor recognition and late implementation of the
sepsis-6 bundle of care (comprising of 6 processes which have been proven to improve patients’ chances of
survival) by health workers has also been identified as one of the factors which could be responsible for the
high mortality rate. Increasing public awareness on sepsis and training of health workers using digital platforms
may improve patients’ health seeking behaviour and health workers’ knowledge and skills and subsequently
lead to better patient outcomes.

We designed and distributed educational resources including leaflets and posters to the public to raise
awareness on sepsis and improve care-seeking behaviour. We also documented sepsis patients’ and their
relatives experiences using photo diaries. In addition, we conducted a one-day workshop on sepsis for key
frontline health workers directly involved in the management of sepsis patients at the University of Calabar
Teaching Hospital, Calabar. Finally, we developed and deployed a sepsis module through an innovative
application (Sepsis tutorial app) to doctors in Calabar, Nigeria. We assessed quantitative pre- and postintervention knowledge scores for the health workers who had to complete the electronic training module on
sepsis between both assessments. This was followed by a user satisfaction survey which evaluated both the
context of the tutorial and the usability of the app.

The online module helped to increase health workers knowledge as evidenced by the highly significant
improvement in the post-test scores of all the participants compared to their pretest scores. In addition,
majority (95%) of the participants recorded higher post-test than pre-test scores. Participants reported being
satisfied with the content and multimodal delivery of the course material, and found the app useable. Digital
training in sub-Saharan Africa is scalable and can sustainably close the critical knowledge gap required to
respond more effectively to medical emergencies such as sepsis in low to middle income settings.

Download full project report here : Improving public awareness of sepsis in South Eastern Nigeria through innovative digital strategies_FHIND (1)