Cargando…

Factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria in urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana

BACKGROUND: In Ghana, about 3.5 million cases of malaria are recorded each year. Urban poor residents particularly have a higher risk of malaria mainly due to poor housing, low socio-economic status and poor sanitation. Alternative treatment for malaria (mainly African traditional/herbal and/or self...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Awuah, Raphael Baffour, Asante, Paapa Yaw, Sakyi, Lionel, Biney, Adriana A. E., Kushitor, Mawuli Komla, Agyei, Francis, de-Graft Aikins, Ama
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5902882/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29661191
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12936-018-2311-8
_version_ 1783314833608802304
author Awuah, Raphael Baffour
Asante, Paapa Yaw
Sakyi, Lionel
Biney, Adriana A. E.
Kushitor, Mawuli Komla
Agyei, Francis
de-Graft Aikins, Ama
author_facet Awuah, Raphael Baffour
Asante, Paapa Yaw
Sakyi, Lionel
Biney, Adriana A. E.
Kushitor, Mawuli Komla
Agyei, Francis
de-Graft Aikins, Ama
author_sort Awuah, Raphael Baffour
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: In Ghana, about 3.5 million cases of malaria are recorded each year. Urban poor residents particularly have a higher risk of malaria mainly due to poor housing, low socio-economic status and poor sanitation. Alternative treatment for malaria (mainly African traditional/herbal and/or self-medication) is further compounding efforts to control the incidence of malaria in urban poor communities. This study assesses factors associated with seeking alternative treatment as the first response to malaria, relative to orthodox treatment in three urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in three urban poor localities in Accra, Ghana among individuals in their reproductive ages (15–59 years for men and 15–49 years for women). The analytic sample for the study was 707. A multinomial regression model was used to assess individual, interpersonal and structural level factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria. RESULTS: Overall, 31% of the respondents sought orthodox treatment, 8% sought traditional/herbal treatment and 61% self-medicated as the first response to malaria. At the bivariate level, more males than females used traditional/herbal treatment and self-medicated for malaria. The results of the regression analysis showed that current health insurance status, perceived relative economic standing, level of social support, and locality of residence were associated with seeking alternative treatment for malaria relative to orthodox treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that many urban poor residents in Accra self-medicate as the first response to malaria. Additionally, individuals who were not enrolled in a health insurance scheme, those who perceived they had a low economic standing, those with a high level of social support, and locality of residence were significantly associated with the use of alternative treatment for malaria. Multi-level strategies should be employed to address the use of alternative forms of treatment for malaria within the context of urban poverty.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5902882
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-59028822018-04-23 Factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria in urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana Awuah, Raphael Baffour Asante, Paapa Yaw Sakyi, Lionel Biney, Adriana A. E. Kushitor, Mawuli Komla Agyei, Francis de-Graft Aikins, Ama Malar J Research BACKGROUND: In Ghana, about 3.5 million cases of malaria are recorded each year. Urban poor residents particularly have a higher risk of malaria mainly due to poor housing, low socio-economic status and poor sanitation. Alternative treatment for malaria (mainly African traditional/herbal and/or self-medication) is further compounding efforts to control the incidence of malaria in urban poor communities. This study assesses factors associated with seeking alternative treatment as the first response to malaria, relative to orthodox treatment in three urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in three urban poor localities in Accra, Ghana among individuals in their reproductive ages (15–59 years for men and 15–49 years for women). The analytic sample for the study was 707. A multinomial regression model was used to assess individual, interpersonal and structural level factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria. RESULTS: Overall, 31% of the respondents sought orthodox treatment, 8% sought traditional/herbal treatment and 61% self-medicated as the first response to malaria. At the bivariate level, more males than females used traditional/herbal treatment and self-medicated for malaria. The results of the regression analysis showed that current health insurance status, perceived relative economic standing, level of social support, and locality of residence were associated with seeking alternative treatment for malaria relative to orthodox treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that many urban poor residents in Accra self-medicate as the first response to malaria. Additionally, individuals who were not enrolled in a health insurance scheme, those who perceived they had a low economic standing, those with a high level of social support, and locality of residence were significantly associated with the use of alternative treatment for malaria. Multi-level strategies should be employed to address the use of alternative forms of treatment for malaria within the context of urban poverty. BioMed Central 2018-04-16 /pmc/articles/PMC5902882/ /pubmed/29661191 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12936-018-2311-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Awuah, Raphael Baffour
Asante, Paapa Yaw
Sakyi, Lionel
Biney, Adriana A. E.
Kushitor, Mawuli Komla
Agyei, Francis
de-Graft Aikins, Ama
Factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria in urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana
title Factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria in urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana
title_full Factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria in urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana
title_fullStr Factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria in urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria in urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana
title_short Factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria in urban poor communities in Accra, Ghana
title_sort factors associated with treatment-seeking for malaria in urban poor communities in accra, ghana
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5902882/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29661191
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12936-018-2311-8
work_keys_str_mv AT awuahraphaelbaffour factorsassociatedwithtreatmentseekingformalariainurbanpoorcommunitiesinaccraghana
AT asantepaapayaw factorsassociatedwithtreatmentseekingformalariainurbanpoorcommunitiesinaccraghana
AT sakyilionel factorsassociatedwithtreatmentseekingformalariainurbanpoorcommunitiesinaccraghana
AT bineyadrianaae factorsassociatedwithtreatmentseekingformalariainurbanpoorcommunitiesinaccraghana
AT kushitormawulikomla factorsassociatedwithtreatmentseekingformalariainurbanpoorcommunitiesinaccraghana
AT agyeifrancis factorsassociatedwithtreatmentseekingformalariainurbanpoorcommunitiesinaccraghana
AT degraftaikinsama factorsassociatedwithtreatmentseekingformalariainurbanpoorcommunitiesinaccraghana