Assessment of Health Seeking Behaviour of the Elderly in a Rural Community of Sokoto State, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: The ageing populations of Nigeria has increased from 4.61% in 2020 to 4.78 % in 2022 and are vulnerable to long term diseases of insidious onset such as cardiovascular illness, Cerebrovascular accident (CVA), cancers, diabetes, and musculoskeletal disease. This study was carried out to assess the health problems of the elderly ad their health seeking behaviours. Materials and methods: This was cross-sectional descriptive study carried out amongst elderly persons aged 60 years and above in Wamakko Local Government Area of Sokoto state. Using a combination of multistage and systematic sampling methods, a total of 347 respondents were recruited into the study. A set of pretested questionnaire was used for data collection after obtaining ethical approval and informed consent from study subjects. Results: Less than half of the respondents (47.8%) had appropriate health seeking practices by visiting health facilities during spells of illness. The commonest illness experienced by the elderly in this community was musculoskeletal diseases followed by hypertension and visual problems. A total of 95.7% of the respondents were not covered with any form of health insurance scheme. Predictors of health seeking behavior included duration of illness more than ten years and belonging to upper socio-economic class. Conclusion: Very few of the elderly in this community had appropriate health seeking behavior with most of them not covered by any health insurance. There is the need to establish the community based health insurance scheme and bring on board all elderly persons so as to minimize out of pocket expenses by the aged.