Inequalities in health care utilization for common illnesses among under five children in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Reducing child mortality and morbidity is a public health concern globally. Like many other developing countries, Bangladesh is struggling to improve child health status as the use of medical treatment is still not at a satisfactory level. Hence, the objective of this study is to identify the contributing factors for inequalities in the use of medical treatment for common childhood illnesses in Bangladesh. Methods: The study used data from the latest Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS)-2014. Children who had diarrhea, fever and cough in the 2 weeks preceding the survey were included in this study. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to unearth the influential factors for medical treatment use among under-five children with childhood illnesses. In the multivariate logistic regression, adjusted odds ratios with p values less than 0.05 were considered for determining significant predictors. Results: This study found that only 37% of children suffering from fever/cough sought medical treatment while this figure was approximately 36% for diarrhea. Age of children, household wealth status, father's education level, region of residence, number of children in the household, access to electronic media were identified as factors contributing to inequality in health care utilization for common childhood illnesses in Bangladesh. Conclusions: Various socioeconomic factors substantially influence the utilization of medical treatment for childhood illnesses. Therefore, to enhance equitable access to health care for children, interventions should be designed targeting children from households with low socioeconomic status. Various awareness-raising health education programs, poverty alleviation programs especially for rural areas can contribute in this regard.

Child Vaccination Coverage, Trends and Predictors in Eastern Ethiopia: Implication for Sustainable Development Goals

“…Women from the poor family probability has less empowerment to give decision, inability to pay costs and spend more time to earn the means of livelihood. 13 , 41 , 53 …”

“…[49][50][51] Adedokun et al 2020 and Khanam et al, 2020 discussed that education has positive impact on healthcare seeking of the caregivers by empowering them on decision making regardless of their social, family and child factors. 52,53 Hence the association might be justified by the fact that educated parents have more understanding of the importance of childhood vaccination and child health than uneducated parents.…”

“…The finding related to not being vaccinated is in line with previous reports. 9,51,53,[56][57][58] This might be the result of persistent health disparities that exist between poor and rich households. Women from the poor family probability has less empowerment to give decision, inability to pay costs and spend more time to earn the means of livelihood.…”

Private health care market shaping and changes in inequities in childhood diarrhoea treatment coverage: evidence from the analysis of baseline and endline surveys of an ORS and zinc scale-up program in Nigeria

“…Previous studies in Africa, India and Bangladesh suggest childhood diarrhoea treatment reflect differences in SES (the poor being less likely to afford treatments); geographical location of residence (people in rural and hard-to-reach areas being more likely to have to travel farther and for longer to get treatment); education (the less educated being least likely to know how to treat or seek treatment for a child with diarrhoea); gender (caregivers being less likely to seek treatment for girls than for boys); and ethnicity (where one ethnic group is better positioned than others to access treatments) [9][10][11][12]35]. Our study aimed to examine changes in ORS and zinc coverage inequities by the dimensions of SES and geographical location over the period of a program utilizing a market-based approach for improving treatment of childhood diarrhoea.…”

“…While many countries have made substantial gains in ORS and zinc coverage, there still remain large in-country variations in coverage associated with various factors [4][5][6][7][8]. The existence of inequities along the dimensions of socioeconomic status (SES) and place of residence have been identified as important reasons for the slow progress towards reducing child mortality in many Low-and Middle-Income countries (LMIC) [9][10][11][12]. Disparities in coverage exacerbates health inequities already faced by marginalized populations.…”