Uzochukwu Benjamin S C, Onwujekwe Emmanuel O, Onoka Chima A, Ughasoro Maduka D
Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu, Nigeria.
PLoS One. 2008 Mar 12;3(3):e1788. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0001788.
Childhood fevers due to malaria remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality among under-five children in Nigeria. The degree of vulnerability perceived by mothers will affect their perception of the severity and threat of their child's fever and the patterns of health care use. This study was undertaken to compare maternal responses to childhood fever in urban and rural areas of Enugu, south east Nigeria.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Data was collected with pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaires from 276 and 124 urban and rural households respectively. In each household, only one woman aged 15-49 years who had lived in each of the urban and rural communities for at least one year and had at least one child less than 5 years old was interviewed. Malaria was mentioned as the commonest cause of childhood fevers. Rural mothers were more likely to recognize danger signs and symptoms than urban mothers. Rural mothers use more of informal than formal health services, and there is more home management of the fever with urban than rural mothers. Chloroquine, ACT, SP and Paracetamol are the main drugs given at home for childhood fevers, but the rural mothers were more likely to use leftover drugs from previous treatment to treat the fevers than urban mothers. The urban respondents were also more likely to use a preventive measure. Urban mothers sought actions faster than rural mothers and the total cost of treatment was also higher in urban areas.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Both urban and rural mothers are aware that malaria is the major cause of childhood fevers. Although rural mothers recognize childhood fever and danger signs better than urban mothers, the urban mothers' responses to fever seem to be better than that for rural mothers. These responses and differences may be important for geographical targeting by policy makers for malaria interventions.
在尼日利亚，五岁以下儿童因疟疾引发的发烧仍是发病和死亡的主要原因。母亲们感知到的脆弱程度会影响她们对孩子发烧严重程度和威胁的认知，以及医疗保健的使用模式。本研究旨在比较尼日利亚东南部埃努古城乡地区母亲们对儿童发烧的应对情况。
方法/主要发现：分别通过预先测试的访谈式问卷从276户城市家庭和124户农村家庭收集数据。在每个家庭中，仅采访一名年龄在15 - 49岁之间、在城乡社区各自居住至少一年且至少有一个5岁以下孩子的女性。疟疾被提及为儿童发烧最常见的原因。农村母亲比城市母亲更有可能识别危险体征和症状。农村母亲更多地使用非正式而非正式医疗服务，城市母亲对发烧的家庭管理比农村母亲更多。氯喹、青蒿素综合疗法、磺胺多辛 - 乙胺嘧啶和对乙酰氨基酚是在家中用于儿童发烧的主要药物，但农村母亲比城市母亲更有可能使用之前治疗剩余的药物来治疗发烧。城市受访者也更有可能采取预防措施。城市母亲比农村母亲更快地寻求行动，城市地区的治疗总成本也更高。
结论/意义：城乡母亲都意识到疟疾是儿童发烧的主要原因。尽管农村母亲比城市母亲更能识别儿童发烧和危险体征，但城市母亲对发烧的应对似乎比农村母亲更好。这些应对情况和差异可能对政策制定者针对疟疾干预措施进行地理定位很重要。
