Design-Stage Trial of Gentamicin in the Uniject Device

comfortable with continuing the treatment, supervisors were willing and able to complete thetreatment using gentamicin in Uniject or gentamicin in a standard needle and syringe.A special disposal box made of heavy, laminated cardboard (Figure 11) was prepared especially forthis study. It had an external lid that could be opened and closed and an internal receptacle with anarrow mouth that could accommodate just the device. The FCHVs were trained to remove thecap of the device before injection and immediately place it in the mouth of the box. Then immediatelyafter administration of the gentamicin to the young infant, they deposited the used device into thebox without recapping and closed the external lid. The capacity of one box was adequate forreceipt of all devices used for one round of PSBI treatment.Figure 11. Disposal box for used Unijectdevices.for cases that presented directly to them.After completion of treatment, FCHVsreturned the disposal boxes to the healthfacility every month and they were burned.One disposal box was used for each sickbaby.The FCHVs maintained a treatmentregister in which they recorded all relevantdata about the sick young infant, thepresenting danger signs, and the dailyrecord of treatment. These registersincluded a place for the supervisors to signand verify that they had observed the dosesgiven by the FCHVs. The other healthworkers also maintained treatment registers3.5 TrainingMost of the training materials used in the MINI program were adapted by a team consisting oflocal technical experts from the Child Figure 12. FCHV learning the weighing skill.Health Division of the MOHP, DPHOMorang, NFHP, MINI, USAID, andPATH. The materials were prepared intwo phases, with the completion of thetraining materials first and the monitoringand evaluation tools second. The expertswho were involved in the developmentof the training materials were primarilyresponsible for conducting the trainingat the district level. The experiencedtrainers of the DPHO, MINI, and theNFHP conducted the trainings up to theFinal Report(18) Gentamicin in Uniject: A Feasibility Study