Knowledge, Attitude and Treatment Seeking Behavior for Malaria in May-Aynee Administration, Eritrea

Abstract

Objective: Malaria is an entirely preventable and treatable disease. However, due to lack of adherence to the preventive measures and delay in early treatment, it has become one of the leading public health problems. The general objective was to assess knowledge, attitude and early treatment seeking behavior about malaria among the communities residing in May-Aynee administration, Eritrea. Method:We conducted a community based cross sectional study. Using systematic random sampling proportional to the size of households in the community, 243 households were selected. Data was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS (Version-20). P-value less than 5% was considered statistically significant.Results: All respondents knew malaria's fatal outcome if untreated. More than half (55.6%) were aware of preventive and treatment measures, mainly through health workers. Most of them recognized mosquito bite as cause (91.8%) and fever as symptom (84%). Of all respondents, 75.4%， mostly with higher educational level and living close to health facilities, had adequate knowledge about malaria. Almost all (98.8%) respondents stated they would seek treatment from health facility when symptoms appear. However, only 39.9% would do so within 24 hours. Around half of respondents (47.7%) experienced malaria symptoms in the past six months. Most of them (90.6%) sought treatment from health facility. However, only 22.4% did so within 24 hours. Long distance between home and health facility was significantly associated with such delay. Conclusion:Most respondents had adequate knowledge regarding cause, symptom, outcome and treatment in relation to malaria. However, small proportion of them sought treatment promptly. Health promotion activities should be implemented to enhance early treatment of the disease.

Early Malaria Diagnosis and Treatment Seeking Behavior Among Clients Attending Outpatient Department Sekou-Toure Regional Referral Hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania; A Cross-Sectional Study

“…[27] The study reports that among those with undifferentiated fever, less than one-third get their blood tests done for malaria despite the fact that most of them seek care [28] Findings of this study reveal high cost of services and long distances to health facilities were the challenges affecting treatment seeking behavior as many they sought to delay at health facility for somedays, whereby 73% they did not prefer to go at health facility till the condition seem to persisted. Compared to studies done Eritrea showed that cost is often a barrier to seeking health services especially among the poor [22] Limitation of the study Inadequate fund to carry out this study, Language barrier as most of people they speak in Sukuma language, the study requires a larger number of participants hence was consumed time in data collection and analysis.…”

“…Similar findings were reported in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Myanmar. [22,23,24] The health facility where people prefer to seek for treatments after the onset of illness, study…”

Early Malaria diagnosis and treatment seeking Behavior among clients attending outpatient department Sekou-Toure regional referral Hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania; A Cross-Sectional Study

“…[27] The study reports that among those with undifferentiated fever, less than one-third get their blood tests done for malaria despite the fact that most of them seek care [28] Findings of this study reveal high cost of services and long distances to health facilities were the challenges affecting treatment seeking behavior as many they sought to delay at health facility for somedays, whereby 73% they did not prefer to go at health facility till the condition seem to persisted. Compared to studies done Eritrea showed that cost is often a barrier to seeking health services especially among the poor [22] Limitation of study Inadequate fund to carry out this study, Language barrier as most of people they speak in Sukuma language, the study requires a larger number of participants hence was consumed time in data collection and analysis.…”

“…Similar ndings were reported in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Myanmar. [22,23,24] The health facility where people prefer to seek for treatments after the onset of illness, study show that majority of people they tend to seek treatment earlier at pharmacy (drug shop) to buy medicine for selftreatment than other places like hospital or health center and laboratory. [24] The number of people who seek for treatment at pharmacy and local drug shops were higher compared to those who seeking for treatments in other health facilities.…”