Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Afr Health Sci. 2021 Dec;21(4):1722-1732. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v21i4.28.
Timely health care among children with suspected malaria, and intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp) in pregnancy avert related morbidity and mortality in endemic regions especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria burden has steadily been declining in endemic countries due to progress made in scaling up of such important interventions.
The study assessed malaria health seeking practices for children under five years of age, and IPTp in Wakiso district, Uganda.
A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 727 households. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were performed in STATA to ascertain factors associated with the place where treatment for children with suspected malaria was first sought (government versus private facility) and uptake of IPTp.
Among caretakers of children with suspected malaria, 69.8% sought care on the day of onset of symptoms. The place where treatment was first sought for the children (government versus private) was associated with participants' (household head or other adult) age (p < 0.001), education level (p < 0.001) and household income (p = 0.011). Among women who had a child in the five years preceding the study, 179 (63.0%) had obtained two or more IPTp doses during their last pregnancy. Uptake of two or more IPTp doses was associated with the women's education level (p = 0.006), having heard messages about malaria through mass media (p = 0.008), knowing the recommended number of IPTp doses (p < 0.001), and knowing the drug used in IPTp (p < 0.001).
There is need to improve malaria health seeking practices among children and pregnant women particularly IPTp through programmes aimed at increasing awareness among the population.
在疟疾流行地区，及时为疑似疟疾患儿提供医疗保健服务，并对孕妇进行间歇性预防治疗（IPTp），可预防相关发病率和死亡率。由于在扩大这些重要干预措施方面取得了进展，疟疾负担在流行国家稳步下降。
本研究评估了乌干达瓦基索区 5 岁以下儿童的疟疾求医行为和 IPTp 情况。
采用结构化问卷从 727 户家庭中收集数据。采用 STATA 进行卡方检验和 Fisher 确切检验，以确定与儿童疑似疟疾首次治疗地点（政府与私人机构）和 IPTp 使用率相关的因素。
在疑似疟疾患儿的照料者中，有 69.8%在症状出现当天寻求治疗。儿童首次治疗地点（政府与私人）与参与者（户主或其他成年人）年龄（p < 0.001）、教育水平（p < 0.001）和家庭收入（p = 0.011）有关。在研究前 5 年内有孩子的妇女中，179 人（63.0%）在最近一次妊娠中接受了两剂或更多的 IPTp 剂量。接受两剂或更多 IPTp 剂量与妇女的教育水平（p = 0.006）、通过大众媒体听到疟疾信息（p = 0.008）、知晓推荐的 IPTp 剂量数（p < 0.001）和知晓 IPTp 用药（p < 0.001）有关。
需要通过旨在提高民众意识的方案，改善儿童和孕妇的疟疾求医行为，特别是 IPTp。
