School of Public Health, College of Health Science and Medicine, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia.
Department of Midwifery, College of Health Science and Medicine, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia.
Front Public Health. 2024 Oct 9;12:1441360. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1441360. eCollection 2024.
Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of child death in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Children with diarrhea who do not receive medical advice or treatment are at high risk of poor health outcomes and increased mortality. Prompt and adequate treatment is essential to mitigate these risks. However, studies that have been conducted on the factors influencing healthcare-seeking behavior (HSB) for diarrhea in under-five children in SSA are scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to determine the variables related to HSB for diarrhea in children under the age of five.
A secondary data analysis was conducted on the most recent data from the Demographic and Health Surveys in 35 SSA countries. The study included a total weighted sample of 51,791 children under the age of five with diarrhea. We presented the adjusted prevalence ratio and the 95% confidence interval in the multivariable multilevel robust Poisson regression analysis to show the statistical significance and strength of the association between HSB and its determinants.
The pooled prevalence of HSB for diarrhea in under-five children was 58.71% (95%CI: 55.39 to 62.04). Factors found to be associated with HSB included maternal age, education and working status, antenatal care visits, postnatal checkups for the child, wasting, distance to a health facility, SSA region, and country income level.
More than 40% of under-five children with diarrhea in SSA did not receive medical advice or treatment. To improve healthcare-seeking behavior, effective health policy interventions are necessary. These include enhancing the education and employment status of mothers, promoting regular antenatal and postnatal care visits, building health facilities in close proximity, and raising awareness in the community about the importance of seeking healthcare services for malnourished children.
腹泻是撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA）儿童死亡的主要原因之一。未接受医疗建议或治疗的腹泻儿童面临健康状况不佳和死亡率增加的高风险。及时和充分的治疗对于减轻这些风险至关重要。然而，关于影响撒哈拉以南非洲五岁以下儿童腹泻寻求医疗服务行为（HSB）的因素的研究很少。因此，本研究的目的是确定与五岁以下儿童腹泻 HSB 相关的变量。
对 35 个 SSA 国家最近的人口与健康调查数据进行了二次数据分析。该研究共纳入了 51791 名患有腹泻的五岁以下儿童的总加权样本。我们在多变量多层稳健泊松回归分析中呈现了调整后的患病率比和 95%置信区间，以显示 HSB 及其决定因素之间的关联的统计学意义和强度。
五岁以下腹泻儿童 HSB 的总患病率为 58.71%（95%CI：55.39 至 62.04）。与 HSB 相关的因素包括母亲年龄、教育和工作状况、产前护理就诊、儿童产后检查、消瘦、距医疗机构的距离、SSA 地区和国家收入水平。
SSA 超过 40%的五岁以下腹泻儿童未接受医疗建议或治疗。为了改善 HSB，需要采取有效的卫生政策干预措施。这些措施包括提高母亲的教育和就业状况、促进定期产前和产后护理就诊、在附近建立医疗机构以及提高社区对营养不良儿童寻求医疗服务重要性的认识。
