BackgroundRespiratory illness (RI) remains a public health problem in Laos, but little is known about the overall burden and people’s healthcare-seeking behavior for RI. Understanding the burden of RI and community patterns of healthcare-seeking behavior would provide better guidance for Lao public health program and policy planners to improve RI public health practice, surveillance systems, and prevention strategies.MethodsA quantitative and qualitative survey was conducted in 14 randomly selected villages of two purposively selected peri-urban and two rural provinces in Laos. A pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information on RI in household members (defined as new fever with cough and/or sore-throat in the absence of other diagnoses during the preceding 30 days) from all heads of household in each village. Sixteen focus group discussions were conducted to obtain more information to support the quantitative survey.ResultsAmong 1,751 households (9,114 people) studied, 3.5% (317/9,114) had experienced RI (fever, cough, and/or sore-throat) in the 30 days before the survey [6.2% in rural and 2.4% in peri-urban areas (p<0.001)]. The percentage of RI among persons aged ≥15 years was 2.7%, 3.7% for those aged 5 – 14 years, and 8.2% for children < 5 years (p<0.001). Of all sick persons, 71% sought treatment [94% in peri-urban and 48% in rural areas (p<0.001)] and 31.5% of them self-medicated [55.5% in peri-urban and 29% in rural areas (p<0.001)]. Sick people in peri-urban areas preferred to chose private clinics and pharmacies as their first treatment option while in rural areas they frequently consulted with village health volunteers and visited health centres as their first choice. The qualitative study suggests that distance, costs of care, and service availability are the most important determinants of seeking healthcare.ConclusionsThe RI burden and healthcare-seeking behavior are different between rural and peri-urban areas of Laos and this is probably due to the differences in environmental and hygienic conditions, health service availability and socio-economic status between the two areas. Therefore strategies for healthcare service improvement may also need to differ between the two areas.

Low Birth Weight (LBW) is a worldwide public health problem, Background: which subsequently may affect the health status of the child. Lao PDR has high incidence of LBW. Antenatal care (ANC) is provided to improve maternal and child health outcomes. The aim of this study was to identify the effect ANC on LBW prevention in Lao PDR.This case control study was conducted in tertiary hospitals of Lao Methods: PDR. The ratio of case: control was 1:3, of which there were 52 cases and 156 controls that passed the inclusion criteria included in the study. In our analysis information on pregnancy and ANC including height of mother, maternal weight gain during pregnancy, maternal gestational age at delivery, type of delivery, supplementary vitamins, and other covariates including age, marital status, educational attainment, occupation, family income, health insurance, family size and living condition were described and determine their association with LBW using multiple logistic regression analysis.There were only 32.69 % of complete ANC among cases and 57.69% Results: in control. Incomplete ANC (<4 times) were significant increased the odds of having LBW (adj. OR=2.97; 95%CI: 1.48 to 5.93; p-value =0.002). Other covariates which also influenced LBW were having maternal weight gain during pregnancy less than 10 kg. (adj.OR=2.28; 95%CI: 1.16 to 4.49; p-value = 0.017), maternal gestation age at delivery less than 40 weeks (adj. OR=3.33; 95%CI: 1.52 to 7.32; p-value =0.003).Complete ANC could help both mother and child in term of weight Conclusion: gain and full term delivery which may effect on LBW reduction.