Introduction of Syphilis Point-of-Care Tests, from Pilot Study to National Programme Implementation in Zambia: A Qualitative Study of Healthcare Workers’ Perspectives on Testing, Training and Quality Assurance

摘要: Syphilis affects 1.4 million pregnant women globally each year. Maternal syphilis causes congenital in over half of affected pregnancies, leading to early foetal loss, pregnancy complications, stillbirth and neonatal death. is under-diagnosed women. Point-of-care rapid tests (RST) allow for same-day treatment address logistical barriers testing encountered with standard Rapid Plasma Reagin testing. Recent literature emphasises successful introduction new health technologies requires healthcare worker (HCW) acceptance, effective training, quality monitoring robust systems. Following a pilot, the Zambian Ministry Health (MoH) adopted RST into policy, integrating them prevention mother-to-child transmission HIV clinics four underserved districts. We compare HCW experiences, including challenges scaling up from highly supported NGO-led pilot large-scale MoH-led national programme. Questionnaires were administered through structured interviews 16 HCWs two districts 24 different rollout Supplementary data gathered via stakeholder interviews, clinic registers supervisory visits. Using conceptual framework adapted technology literature, we explored acceptance usability. Quantitative analysed using descriptive statistics. Key themes qualitative template analysis. Overall, accepted as learnable, suitable, tools improve antenatal services, which usable diverse clinical settings. Changes supervision models between may have influenced compromised quality. While was integrated policy implementation limited during despite financial support mentorship. illustrate that research can rapidly translate change scale-up. However, assurance should be reviewed strengthened programme continues.