Public Awareness, Knowledge of Availability, And Willingness to Use Neurosurgical Care Services in Africa: A Cross-Sectional E-Survey Protocol

Abstract

Background: Barriers to care cause delays in seeking, reaching, and getting care. These delays affect low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 9 out of 10 LMIC inhabitants have no access to basic surgical care. Knowledge of healthcare utilization behavior within underserved communities is useful when developing and implementing health policies. Little is known about the neurosurgical health-seeking behavior of African adults. This study evaluates public awareness, knowledge of availability, and readiness for neurosurgical care services amongst African adults. Methodology:The cross-sectional study will be run using a self-administered e-survey hosted on Google Forms (Google, CA, USA) disseminated from 10th May 2021 to 10th June 2021. The Questionnaire would be in two languages, English and French. The survey will contain closed-ended, open-ended, and Likert Scale questions. The structured questionnaire will have four sections with 42 questions; Sociodemographic characteristics, Definition of neurosurgery care, Knowledge of neurosurgical diseases, practice and availability, and Common beliefs about neurosurgical care. All consenting adult Africans will be eligible. A minimum sample size of 424 will be used. Data will be analyzed using SPSS version 26 (IBM, WA, USA). Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals, Chi-Square test, and ANOVA will be used to test for associations between independent and dependent variables. A P-value <0.05 will be considered statistically significant. Also, a multinomial regression model will be used. Dissemination:The study findings will be published in an academic peer-reviewed journal, and the abstract will be presented at an international conference. Highlights • • The burden of neurosurgical diseases is enormous in low-and middle-income countries, especially in Africa. • Unfortunately, most neurosurgical needs in Africa are unmet because of delays in seeking, reaching, and getting care. • Most efforts aimed at reducing barriers to care have focused on improving the neurosurgical workforce density and infrastructure. Little or no efforts have been directed towards understanding or reducing the barriers to seeking care.

Public awareness, knowledge of availability, and willingness to use neurosurgical care services in Sub-Saharan Africa: A cross-sectional study

“…The study methodology followed a pre-defined study protocol [ 2 ]. The authors developed a self-administered e-survey on Google Forms (Google Inc., CA, USA) composed of 32 closed-ended, open-ended, and Likert Scale questions divided into four sections: sociodemographic characteristics (7 questions); definition of neurosurgical care (2 questions); knowledge of neurosurgical diseases, practice, and availability (11 questions); and common beliefs about neurosurgical care (12 questions).…”

“…The minimum sample size (N = 424) was determined using the normal approximation to the hypergeometric. Sample size calculations can be found in the study protocol [ 2 ].…”

“…The e-survey was anonymous and voluntary. It therefore met the informed consent waiver requirements of the institutional review board of the Bel Campus University of Technology, Kinshasa, DRC (No 2135488) [ 2 ]. Study participants were informed of the aim and nature of the study.…”

“…Over 18 million people die every year from the absence of essential and emergency surgical care, the majority of these deaths have been shown to occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) [ 1 ]. This is especially true in Africa where the disease burden is compounded by a lack of resources and numerous barriers to care [ 2 ]. In recent years, there has been increased attention on the global health needs of Africa; however, the focus has been on infectious and non-communicable diseases [ 3 ].…”

Accessing neurosurgical services in Africa: efforts, challenges, and recommendation

“…Low-and middleincome countries (LMICs) account for about 18 million deaths yearly from the absence of essential and emergency surgical capacity and infrastructure [1] . Africa accounts for 15% of the unmet global neurosurgical need, but African patients have access to only 1% of the neurosurgical workforce [2] . If this burden is not attended to, there is a risk that overwhelmed health care systems would result in erosion in efforts to improve the provision of essential neurosurgical services.…”