Individual and contextual factors associated with appropriate healthcare seeking behavior among febrile children in Tanzania

Juma, Adinan; Damian, Damian J.; Mosha, Neema; Mboya, Innocent B.; Mamseri, Redempta; Msuya, Sia E.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0175446

Cited by 42 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(31 reference statements)

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“…Although it is expected that children in urban areas would benefit more from medical care based on the number of health facility therein, rural dwellers may have benefitted from awareness campaign by health workers on importance of consulting medical personnel for immunization and when children are sick. Child's age is another factor that influenced health seeking behaviour of women for their children [29]. Compared to children who are 7-11 months old, children who are 12 months old and above are less likely to seek medical care when they are sick.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors influencing mothers’ health care seeking behaviour for their children: evidence from 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa

Adedokun

Yaya

2020

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background Almost half of the estimated 5.3 million deaths of under-five children in 2018 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa with morbidity contributing substantially to these deaths. Seeking medical care for children has been described as an important measure of reducing mortality occasioned by morbidity. This study examined factors influencing mothers’ health seeking behaviour for their children in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods This study made use of data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The study involved 75,982 children who received or did not receive measles vaccine and 93,142 children who sought or did not seek medical care when affected by fever or cough and diarrhoea. Binary logistic regression was applied in the analysis. Results Most of the children (74%) received measles vaccine while less than one-fifth sought medical care for fever or cough (16%) and diarrhoea (10%). Majority of the children of women who received measles vaccine and sought medical care when they had fever or cough are from richest households. Children of women with primary and secondary or higher education, children of working women and children of women that attended antenatal care during pregnancy are more likely to seek medical care for fever or cough. While children of women who live in urban areas and children of second or higher order of birth are less likely to receive measles vaccine, children aged 24–35 months and those who were of average size at birth are less likely to seek medical care for diarrhoea. Conclusions This study has revealed that mothers’ health care seeking behaviour for their children is influenced by social, maternal and child factors. Any intervention aimed at improving child health in sub-Sharan Africa should take these factors into consideration.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors influencing mothers’ health care seeking behaviour for their children: evidence from 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa

Adedokun

Yaya

2020

BMC Health Serv Res

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“…The study examined independent variables at two levels; level 1 (hereinafter referred to as individual-level factors) included participants’ responses to survey questions on the personal factors, and characteristics of household from which the individuals came from, while level 2 included community-level factors which were derived/aggregated from the individual-level factors [ 26 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors associated with insecticide-treated net usage among women of childbearing age in Malawi: a multilevel analysis

Nkoka

Chuang

et al. 2018

Malar J

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BackgroundThis study aimed to identify factors at individual and community level influencing insecticide-treated net (ITN) usage among groups of women of childbearing age (WOCBA) in Malawi.MethodsFactors influencing ITN usage in Malawi were assessed through interviews with 16,130 WOCBA (15–49 years) across 850 communities who participated in the 2015–2016 Malawi Demographic Health Survey. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used.ResultsITN use was similar between pregnant women and non-pregnant women with children under 5 years (45.9% and 46.9%, respectively), but slightly lower among non-pregnant women without children under 5 years (39.1%). Both individual and community characteristics were associated with ITN use among WOCBA and varied significantly across subgroups. Specifically, non-pregnant women with children under 5 years living in communities where women had high autonomy in health care decisions had an 18% greater odds of using an ITN compared with those from communities where women had low health care autonomy (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00–1.38). Distance to health care facility influenced ITN usage among pregnant women; those who did not regard distance as a problem had a 44% greater odds of using an ITN than those for whom distance was seen as a problem (aOR = 1.44; 95% CI 1.09–1.89). Number of household members, region, urbanization, and community ITN coverage influenced ITN usage across all WOCBA groups.ConclusionThe findings confirmed the importance of assessing various factors affecting ITN usage among groups of WOCBA. Both individual- and community-level factors should be considered when designing and implementing ITN programmes in Malawi.

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“…However, this does not mean that they had heard of the benefit and necessity of the introduction of RDT/ACT from health professionals. To increase the demand for utilization of RDT/ACT, active promotion of its importance to villagers through mass media and/or short message service may be helpful ( 22 , 23 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Health Service Utilization for Febrile Children Before and After Introduction of Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests and Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapy in Rural Papua New Guinea

Tsukahara

Furusawa

Hombhanje

2018

Front. Public Health

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BackgroundIn Papua New Guinea (PNG), a malaria treatment policy using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) plus artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) was widely introduced to rural communities in 2012. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effect of this RDT/ACT introduction to a rural PNG population on health service utilization and to compare factors associated with health service utilization before and after the RDT/ACT introduction.MethodsHousehold surveys with structured questionnaires were conducted before and after the introduction of RDT/ACT in a catchment area of a health center in East Sepik Province, PNG. We interviewed caregivers with children less than 15 years of age and collected data on fever episodes in the preceding 2 weeks. Using propensity score matching, febrile children before the introduction of RDT/ACT were matched to febrile children after the introduction. Then, the adjusted difference in the proportion of health service utilization [i.e., the average treatment effect (ATE) of the introduction of RDT/ACT on health service utilization] was estimated. We also employed a multilevel Poisson regression model to investigate factors influencing the use of health services.ResultsOf 4,690 children, 911 (19%) were reported to have a fever episode. The unadjusted proportion of health service utilization was 51.7 and 57.2% before and after the RDT/ACT introduction, respectively. After matching, no significant difference in the health service utilization was observed before and after the introduction of RDT/ACT (ATE: 0.063, 95% confidence interval −0.024 to 0.150). Multilevel regression analysis showed that the consistent factors associated with a higher utilization of health services were severe illness and being female.ConclusionThe utilization of health services was not significantly different before and after the introduction of RDT/ACT. Villagers may have neither sufficient informations on the new protocol nor high acceptance of RDT/ACT. The observed gender bias in health service utilization could be due to female caregivers’ preferences toward girls.

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Individual and contextual factors associated with appropriate healthcare seeking behavior among febrile children in Tanzania

Cited by 42 publications

References 31 publications

Factors influencing mothers’ health care seeking behaviour for their children: evidence from 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa

Factors influencing mothers’ health care seeking behaviour for their children: evidence from 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa

Factors associated with insecticide-treated net usage among women of childbearing age in Malawi: a multilevel analysis

Comparison of Health Service Utilization for Febrile Children Before and After Introduction of Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests and Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapy in Rural Papua New Guinea

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