Health Care Seeking Behavior for Common Childhood Illnesses in Jeldu District, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundEven though health care seeking interventions potentially reduce child mortality from easily treatable diseases, significant numbers of children die without ever reaching a health facility or due to delays in seeking care in Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess health care seeking behavior for common childhood illnesses and associated factors.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Jeldu District from January to February 2011. A systematic sampling method was used for sample selection. Data were collected from 422 caregivers with under-five children who experienced diseases within six weeks before the survey. Interviewer administered structured and pre-tested questionnaire which were used to collect data. Data entry and cleaning were carried out using Epi Info version 3.5.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 16. Descriptive analysis was done to determine the magnitude of health care seeking behavior. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify associated factors.ResultsA total of 422 caregivers of under-five children were participated in the study giving an overall response rate of 97.5%. Three hundred fifteen (74.6%) children sought care from health facilities for all conditions. However, only 55.4% of them were taken to health facilities as first source treatment during their illness and prompt care was also very low (13.7%). Marital status of the caregivers (AOR = 2.84; 95%CI: 1.62–4.98), number of symptoms experienced by the child (AOR = 2.04; 95%CI: 1.24–3.36) and perceived severity of the illness (AOR = 3.20; 95%CI: 1.96–5.22) were predictors of health care seeking behavior.ConclusionHealth care seeking behavior for childhood illnesses was delayed and decision to seek care from health facilities was influenced by worsening of the illnesses. Thus, community level promotion of prompt health care seeking is essential to enhance the health care seeking behavior for child hood illnesses in the locality.

Health care seeking behavior and associated factor among mothers/caregivers of under-five children with acute diarrhea in Dangila zuria Woreda, North west Ethiopia

“…The magnitude of health care seeking behavior of mothers/caregivers of under-five children with acute diarrhea was 77.7 % (95%CI: 74.4% -81.1%). This is consistent with the study conducted in the Oromia region Jeldu district (81.1%) (10), and lower than the study conducted in the Gambia of Ethiopia (81.5%) (19) this might be due to the difference in geographic and socioeconomic conditions.…”

“…Modern health care seeking behavior: Is care sought from health facilities; hospitals, health centers, private clinics or health posts for under-five children with acute diarrhea within 2 weeks (10).…”

“…Poor health care seeking behavior increases the chance of morbidity and mortality of children (9). Significant numbers of children die due to delays in seeking care in Ethiopia (10). For instance, a study done in Bahir Dar city indicated that diarrhea was higher in under-five children but treatment seeking was low due to low seeking behavior of mothers (11).…”

High common childhood illnesses while treatment seeking behavior of mothers’/care givers’ was low at rural northwest Ethiopia

“…For instance, visiting traditional healer first, financial constraint, perception that illness was not serious and the expectation that illness would recover soon were some of the possible reasons (25,40,44). However, treatment seeking behavior of the mothers/caregivers in our study was higher compared to similar studies conducted in other parts of the country elsewhere (7,35,45,46). The possible reason is that some of the above studies were conducted in relatively urban areas where residents had better socioeconomic status, and good awareness and attitude to…”

“…In Ethiopia, although significant achievements have been made in reducing childhood mortality at the national level, under-five mortality is high in the Amhara region reported as 85 deaths/1,000 live births (5). Acute respiratory infections, diarrhea and malaria were the leading causes of death for children under-five years of age (1,2,6,7). Diarrhea contributes to more than one in every ten (13%) child deaths (8).…”