Treatment seeking of malaria patients in East Shewa Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

Treatment-seeking behaviour for febrile illness in an area of seasonal malaria transmission in rural Ethiopia

“…Seeking care from the health facility mainly comes after the failure of care at home [29], or malaria patients might directly seek treatment from health care facilities without the initiation of treatment at home [30]. In a study conducted in east Shewa zone in central Ethiopia, 87% of malaria patients diagnosed at MCLs directly sought treatment without taking anti-malarial drugs at home or prior visit to other health facilities [31]. The present study confirms previous observations in Ethiopia that use of health services for malaria is widely practiced despite the low level of home treatment.…”

Improving access to health care for malaria in Africa: a review of literature on what attracts patients

“…For example, many reported recognition of traditional healers as the best to treat cases of convulsions or illnesses with spiritual causes. Patients were reported to attend biomedical health facilities because they believed that these facilities 'Cheap' Kenya [14], Tanzania [15], Uganda [16][17][18] Nigeria [19], [20] Ghana [21], Ethiopia [22], Tanzania [23], Malawi [24], Nigeria [25,26] 'Cheap'Burkina Faso [33] 'Cheap' Uganda [16] Free services Malawi [36]South Africa [37] Kenya [38], Tanzania [31] Ethiopia [39] 'Free services' Kenya [35] 'Free or cheap drugs' Uganda [45,46] Tanzania [47] 'No charge' Uganda [12,13] 'Affordable' drug vendors Nigeria [27,28]Ghana [29] 'For those who find it difficult to pay' Tanzania [23], Uganda [32] 'Reduced cost' Kenya [35] 'Free if unable to pay' Tanzania [34] 'Low cost' Uganda [41] 'Inexpensive services' Nigeria [48] Ghana [21], Nigeria [20], Kenya [14], [38,49,50], Mozambique [51] Ethiopia [52] 'Charge less th...…”

“…'Less travel' Ghana [43], Tanzania [15] Malawi [36] 'Easy access' Uganda [32] 'Easy access' Uganda [41] Kenya [63] 'Easy access' Mozambique [51], Tanzania [53], Kenya [49] 'Save on transport cost' Nigeria [27] Ghana [21] Kenya [30] Save on transport cost' Kenya [38], Mozambique [51], Ghana [21] Provider timeliness of services (opening hours and waiting times) (n = 21) 'Short waiting time' Nigeria [56] 'Available 24 hrs' Kenya [14], Nigeria [19] 'Available at convenient hours' Tanzania [34] 'Operate for longer hours' Ghana [65] 'Fast services for malaria cases' Nigeria [66] 'Short waiting time' Ethiopia [52], Ghana [21], Kenya [38,49] Uganda [46] Nigeria [48] 'Longer opening hours' Nigeria [20], Uganda [18] 'Short waiting time' Kenya [14], Nigeria [28] 'Short waiting time' Ethiopia [39] 'Convenient treatment times' Ghana [43] 'Provide faster services' Kenya [35] 'Short waiting time' Ghana [21,43], Ethiopia [22], Tanzania [31] Malawi [36], Uganda [18] 'Provide fast services' Uganda [18] Note: Papers providing a rich description of attracting factors are marked in bold; findings from me...…”

“…'Drug availability' Ethiopia [95] Tanzania [91] 'Drug availability' Kenya [35] Ethiopia [13] 'Drug availability' Zambia [60]Uganda [102] 'Drug availability' Zambia [93,78] Uganda [41], Nigeria [25] 'Availability of drugs' Nigeria [20,48] 'Drug availability' Nigeria [28,26]Tanzania [53,101] Uganda [32], [102,18]Ethiopia [13] 'Well equipped' Kenya [49,38]Tanzania [34] Uganda [16] 'Drips available' Tanzania [101] 'Wide range of drugs' Tanzania [101] Malawi [24] 'Ward for in-patients' Tanzania [47] 'Diagnostic facilities' Zambia [93] Tanzania [101] 'Presence of laboratory' Tanzania [47] 'Staff availability' Zambia [93] 'Medical staff' Kenya [38] Better 'quality of services' (as a general statement) (n = 15) Uganda [18] Uganda [32] Kenya [14], Ethiopia [10], Uganda [41], Ghana [21] Ethiopia [39] Nigeria [62] Uganda [41], Nigeria [62] Kenya [50,…”

Optimal Control of the Spread of Malaria Superinfectivity

“…The time range in days from onset of symptoms to seeking first treatment, for instance in Ethiopia, was estimated to be less than one day and greater than 6 days. [77][78][79] Thus, the mean time 1/u is set to be between 1-8 days, which makes u(t) range between 0.125-1 and hence, we set the lower bound a = 0 and upper bound b = 1, to accommodate the worst case of no treatment and treating immediately at the onset of symptoms. Due to boundedness of our states and the structure of our systems, an optimal control exists from Corollary 4.1 of Ref.…”