scholarly journals Rural–urban health-seeking behaviours for non-communicable diseases in Sierra Leone

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. e002024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayesha Idriss ◽  
Karin Diaconu ◽  
Guanyang Zou ◽  
Reynold GB Senesi ◽  
Haja Wurie ◽  
...  

IntroductionNon-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of mortality globally. In Africa, they are expected to increase by 25% by 2030. However, very little is known about community perceptions of risk factors and factors influencing health-seeking behaviour, especially in fragile settings. Understanding these is critical to effectively address this epidemic, especially in low-resource settings.MethodsWe use participatory group model building techniques to probe knowledge and perceptions of NCD conditions and their causes, health-seeking patterns for NCDs and factors affecting these health-seeking patterns. Our participants were 116 local leaders and community members in three sites in Western Area (urban) and Bombali District (rural), Sierra Leone. Data were analysed using a prior framework for NCD care seeking developed in Ghana.ResultsOur findings suggest adequate basic knowledge of causes and symptoms of the common NCDs, in rural and urban areas, although there is a tendency to highlight and react to severe symptoms. Urban and rural communities have access to a complex network of formal and informal, traditional and biomedical, spiritual and secular health providers. We highlight multiple narratives of causal factors which community members can hold, and how these and social networks influence their care seeking. Care seeking is influenced by a number of factors, including supply-side factors (proximity and cost), previous experiences of care, disease-specific factors, such as acute presentation, and personal and community beliefs about the appropriateness of different strategies.ConclusionThis article adds to the limited literature on community understanding of NCDs and its associated health-seeking behaviour in fragile settings. It is important to further elucidate these factors, which power hybrid journeys including non-care seeking, failure to prevent and self-manage effectively, and considerable expenditure for households, in order to improve prevention and management of NCDs in fragile settings such as Sierra Leone.

Author(s):  
Miriam Karinja ◽  
Goonaseelan Pillai ◽  
Raymond Schlienger ◽  
Marcel Tanner ◽  
Bernhards Ogutu

Diabetes mellitus and hypertension are two common non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that often coexist in patients. However, health-seeking behaviour in patients with diabetes mellitus or hypertension has not been extensively studied especially in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to examine care-seeking dynamics among participants diagnosed with diabetes and/or hypertension across nine counties in rural Kenya. We conducted a cross-sectional study among adults diagnosed with diabetes and/or hypertension through face-to-face interviews. Of the 1100 participants, 69.9% had hypertension, 15.5% diabetes while 14.7% had both. The mean age of the respondents was 64 years. The majority of the respondents (86%) were on allopathic treatment. Hospital admission, having a good self-rated health status and having social support for illness, were positively associated with appropriate health-seeking behaviour while use of alcohol and pharmacy or chemist as source of treatment were negatively associated with appropriate health-seeking behaviour. Our study found a high prevalence of appropriate health-seeking behaviour among respondents with the majority obtaining care from government facilities. The results are evidence that improving public health care services can promote appropriate health-seeking behaviour for non-communicable diseases and thus improve health outcomes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qun Wang ◽  
Stephan Brenner ◽  
Gerald Leppert ◽  
Thomas Hastings Banda ◽  
Olivier Kalmus ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Nandini Shukla ◽  
Neelam Anupama Toppo ◽  
Aditya Thakur ◽  
Pradeep Kumar Kasar ◽  
Brajesh Sharma

Background: Even though appropriate medical care seeking could prevent a significant number of child deaths, significant numbers of children die without ever reaching a health facility or due to delays in seeking care.1 This study aimed to compare health seeking behaviour among malnourished children in rural and urban areas.Methods: Cross sectional study carried out in rural and urban areas of Jabalpur district among 1237 children of age group 06-59 months in randomly selected in eight wards and two blocks of Jabalpur District. Where 720 children were from urban wards and 517 from rural villages. Multistage random sampling technique was used for the selection of study subjects. Predesigned questionnaire used to collect data.Results: Out of 720 children of urban area, percentage of acute malnutrition (low weight-for-height) was 136 (18.8%) while in rural area, out of 517 children percentage of acute malnutrition (low weight-for-height) was 102 (19.7%). Out of 136 malnourished children in urban, 32 (23.5%) were having illness while in rural out of 102, 43 (42.1%) were having illness. In rural areas, the mother or primary care giver of the study subjects preferred nearby government hospital (21.9%) the most during illness. While in urban, registered private practitioner (47%) were mostly preferred for consulting during sickness. Still 16.3% of the caregiver in rural area preferred quacks.Conclusions: This shows that the approach of health seeking behaviour is better in urban areas as compared to rural as people still prefer quacks in rural areas. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chukwuedozie K. Ajaero ◽  
Nicole De Wet-Billings ◽  
Chiemezie Atama ◽  
Prince Agwu ◽  
Eberechukwu J. Eze

Abstract Background The socioeconomic conditions of different environments manifest in varying experiences of illnesses. Even as migrants do transit across these different environments for various reasons, including settlement, they are bound to have peculiar experiences of diseases, which could be traced to lifestyle, gender, adaptation, and reactions to specific social, economic, psychological and climatic conditions. Paying attention to such unique scenarios, our study examines the prevalence and contextual correlates of non-communicable diseases among inter-provincial migrants and non-migrants in South Africa. Methods Data was from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS), waves 5 of 2017, which comprised of 28,055 respondents aged 15–64 years made up of 22,849 inter-provincial non-migrants and 5206 inter-provincial migrants. A composite dependent/outcome variable of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) was generated for the study and data analysis involved descriptive statistics, chi Square analysis and multilevel logistic regression analysis. Results More migrants (19.81%) than non-migrants (16.69%) reported prevalence of NCDs. With the exception of household size for migrants and smoking for non-migrants, the prevalence of NCDs showed significant differences in all the community, behavioral, and individual variables. The factors in the full model, which significantly increased odds of NCDs among the migrants and the non-migrants, were older populations, the non-Blacks, and those with higher education levels. On the one hand, being married, having a household with 4–6 persons, and being residents of urban areas significantly increased odds of NCDs among the migrant population. While on the other, living in coastal provinces, being a female, and belonging to the category of those who earn more than 10,000 Rands were significantly associated with increased odds of NCDs among the non-migrants. Conclusions These findings, therefore, among other things underscore the need for increased education and awareness campaigns, especially among the older populations on the preventive and mitigative strategies for NCDs. In addition, changes in lifestyles with regard to smoking and physical exercises should be more emphasized in specific contextual situations for the migrant and non-migrant populations, as highlighted by the results of this study.


2012 ◽  
Vol 66 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A51.1-A51 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Nathaniel-Wurie ◽  
G Martin ◽  
G Cooper ◽  
G-L De Bernier ◽  
T Ajayi ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elijah Yendaw ◽  
Anthony Mwinilanaa Tampah-Naah

Purpose This study aims to investigate the health-care-seeking behaviour and practices of West African migrants who reside and operate in Wa, Ghana, as itinerant retailers. Design/methodology/approach The study was cross-sectional and used the quantitative research approach. The analysis was done on a target population comprising 122 itinerant immigrant retail traders in Wa, Ghana. Fisher’s exact test and logistic regression were used to analyse the data. Findings Malaria was the commonest disease among them. Five in ten of the migrants preferred to report malaria episodes to a private health facility than to a government facility. Significant associations were identified between four dimensions (health facility, self-medication, home remedy and consult others) of health-seeking behaviour, and some background characteristics. The main reason why migrants prefer government health facilities was because of their better health personnel. They self-medicated because of easy accessibility of over-the-counter medicine shops. Also, when ill, the migrants usually consulted family members who would be in a position to take them home when their ailment worsens. Research limitations/implications Snowball sampling was used to select the respondents which could potentially lead to a sample that is not fully representative of the population in general. Originality/value Studies concerning migration and health in Ghana have been focused on internal migrants. Yet, minority immigrant traders equally encounter adverse health conditions but limited studies have been conducted to espouse their health-seeking behaviour. This study imperatively contributes to the subject matter that has limited literature in the country.


Author(s):  
Riyaz Ahmad S. ◽  
Mohd Haroon Khan ◽  
M. Athar Ansari

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are now recognized as major cause of morbidity and mortality. All countries, irrespective of their stage of economic development or demographic and epidemiological transition, face an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of risk factors associated with non-communicable diseases.Methods: This is a community based cross sectional study conducted at field practice areas of the urban and rural health training centers, Department of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. 640 study subject’s age group 18-65 years. Systematic random sampling and proportionate to population size method (PPS). SPSS version 13 and Chi-square was used to analyse the data.Results: The age group for the present study was chosen to be 18-65 years of age. The study population consisted of 340 females and 300 males. 27.1% belong to younger age group (18-25 years), whereas in urban areas majority (27.3%) belongs to 26-35 years age group. Also, the study group comprised of higher percentage of females (53%) compared to males (47%).129 (20.2%) subjects were found to be current smokers. Only 4 (1.3%) women were smokers. The prevalence of smokeless tobacco use which was found to be 21.6% (28.3% in males and 15.6% in females). The prevalence of current alcohol use in our study to be 10.3% in males and 0.6% in females. The overall prevalence of alcohol use was 5.2%. Alcohol use showed inverse relation with socioeconomic class, About 87% of the respondents did not have sufficient intake of fruits and vegetables. The physical inactivity during work was more in males (30.7%) compared to females (15.5%. Mean body weight, BMI and waist circumference showed significant changes with age in both sexes.Conclusions: It can be concluded from our study that the burden of risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among the rural and urban areas of Aligarh is quite high.


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