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Table 2 Common errors by health workers (HW) participating to the external quality assessment according to different groups: those who also participated to the EQA in 2012 (EQA-2012), those who were recently trained (<12 months ago), and the other HW (who had neither recently been trained nor had participated to EQA-2012)

From: SMS photograph-based external quality assessment of reading and interpretation of malaria rapid diagnostic tests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Type of error

Photograph

Line

HW who participated to EQA-2012

HW trained < 12 months ago

Other HW

C

Pan

P.f.

(n = 992)

(n = 410)

(n = 1076)

Faint and weak lines overlooked

A

+

-

F

31.3

24.6

29.1

D

+

F

S

22.9

22.2

26.6

F

+

-

W

2.7

2.7

4.0

H

+

F

-

5.7

4.1

9.6

Failure to distinguish the correct Plasmodium species

D

+

F

S

2.2

3.9

4.1

F

+

-

W

7.1

5.6

7.2

H

+

-

M

3.4

3.7

4.6

I

+

S

S

2.0

3.7

4.6

Missing negative test

B

+

-

-

10.0

8.0

10.3

E

+

-

-

13.2

9.0

12.5

Missing invalid test

C

-

-

-

6.6

11.0

9.6

J

-

-

S

22.3

19.0

27.0

  1. The proportions present the % of HW who made errors.
  2. Abbreviations and symbols: C control line, Pan Plasmodium spp. (all four species), P.f. Plasmodium falciparum, negative (no line present), + positive (visible control line present), F faint positive line intensity compared to the control line, M medium positive line intensity compared to the control line, W weak positive line intensity compared to the control line, S strong positive line intensity compared to the control line, HW health worker, EQA external quality assessment.