Care-seeking patterns for fatal malaria in Tanzania
Abstract Background Once malaria occurs, deaths can be prevented by prompt treatment with relatively affordable and efficacious drugs. Yet this goal is elusive in Africa. The paradox of a continuing but easily preventable cause of high mortality raises important questions for policy makers concernin...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f73254d73f28431497a1b96cbae27cc4 2023-05-15T15:14:11+02:00 Care-seeking patterns for fatal malaria in Tanzania Minhaj Abdulatif Masanja Honorati Mwageni Eleuther Mayombana Charles de Savigny Don Mkilindi Yahya Mbuya Conrad Kasale Harun Reid Graham 2004-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-3-27 https://doaj.org/article/f73254d73f28431497a1b96cbae27cc4 EN eng BMC http://www.malariajournal.com/content/3/1/27 https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-3-27 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/f73254d73f28431497a1b96cbae27cc4 Malaria Journal, Vol 3, Iss 1, p 27 (2004) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 article 2004 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-3-27 2022-12-31T09:10:40Z Abstract Background Once malaria occurs, deaths can be prevented by prompt treatment with relatively affordable and efficacious drugs. Yet this goal is elusive in Africa. The paradox of a continuing but easily preventable cause of high mortality raises important questions for policy makers concerning care-seeking and access to health systems. Although patterns of care-seeking during uncomplicated malaria episodes are well known, studies in cases of fatal malaria are rare. Care-seeking behaviours may differ between these groups. Methods This study documents care-seeking events in 320 children less than five years of age with fatal malaria seen between 1999 and 2001 during over 240,000 person-years of follow-up in a stable perennial malaria transmission setting in southern Tanzania. Accounts of care-seeking recorded in verbal autopsy histories were analysed to determine providers attended and the sequence of choices made as the patients' condition deteriorated. Results As first resort to care, 78.7% of malaria-attributable deaths used modern biomedical care in the form of antimalarial pharmaceuticals from shops or government or non-governmental heath facilities, 9.4% used initial traditional care at home or from traditional practitioners and 11.9% sought no care of any kind. There were no differences in patterns of choice by sex of the child, sex of the head of the household, socioeconomic status of the household or presence or absence of convulsions. In malaria deaths of all ages who sought care more than once, modern care was included in the first or second resort to care in 90.0% and 99.4% with and without convulsions respectively. Conclusions In this study of fatal malaria in southern Tanzania, biomedical care is the preferred choice of an overwhelming majority of suspected malaria cases, even those complicated by convulsions. Traditional care is no longer a significant delaying factor. To reduce mortality further will require greater emphasis on recognizing danger signs at home, prompter care-seeking, ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Malaria Journal 3 1 27 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 Minhaj Abdulatif Masanja Honorati Mwageni Eleuther Mayombana Charles de Savigny Don Mkilindi Yahya Mbuya Conrad Kasale Harun Reid Graham Care-seeking patterns for fatal malaria in Tanzania |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Infectious and parasitic diseases RC109-216 |
description |
Abstract Background Once malaria occurs, deaths can be prevented by prompt treatment with relatively affordable and efficacious drugs. Yet this goal is elusive in Africa. The paradox of a continuing but easily preventable cause of high mortality raises important questions for policy makers concerning care-seeking and access to health systems. Although patterns of care-seeking during uncomplicated malaria episodes are well known, studies in cases of fatal malaria are rare. Care-seeking behaviours may differ between these groups. Methods This study documents care-seeking events in 320 children less than five years of age with fatal malaria seen between 1999 and 2001 during over 240,000 person-years of follow-up in a stable perennial malaria transmission setting in southern Tanzania. Accounts of care-seeking recorded in verbal autopsy histories were analysed to determine providers attended and the sequence of choices made as the patients' condition deteriorated. Results As first resort to care, 78.7% of malaria-attributable deaths used modern biomedical care in the form of antimalarial pharmaceuticals from shops or government or non-governmental heath facilities, 9.4% used initial traditional care at home or from traditional practitioners and 11.9% sought no care of any kind. There were no differences in patterns of choice by sex of the child, sex of the head of the household, socioeconomic status of the household or presence or absence of convulsions. In malaria deaths of all ages who sought care more than once, modern care was included in the first or second resort to care in 90.0% and 99.4% with and without convulsions respectively. Conclusions In this study of fatal malaria in southern Tanzania, biomedical care is the preferred choice of an overwhelming majority of suspected malaria cases, even those complicated by convulsions. Traditional care is no longer a significant delaying factor. To reduce mortality further will require greater emphasis on recognizing danger signs at home, prompter care-seeking, ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Minhaj Abdulatif Masanja Honorati Mwageni Eleuther Mayombana Charles de Savigny Don Mkilindi Yahya Mbuya Conrad Kasale Harun Reid Graham |
author_facet |
Minhaj Abdulatif Masanja Honorati Mwageni Eleuther Mayombana Charles de Savigny Don Mkilindi Yahya Mbuya Conrad Kasale Harun Reid Graham |
author_sort |
Minhaj Abdulatif |
title |
Care-seeking patterns for fatal malaria in Tanzania |
title_short |
Care-seeking patterns for fatal malaria in Tanzania |
title_full |
Care-seeking patterns for fatal malaria in Tanzania |
title_fullStr |
Care-seeking patterns for fatal malaria in Tanzania |
title_full_unstemmed |
Care-seeking patterns for fatal malaria in Tanzania |
title_sort |
care-seeking patterns for fatal malaria in tanzania |
publisher |
BMC |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-3-27 https://doaj.org/article/f73254d73f28431497a1b96cbae27cc4 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Malaria Journal, Vol 3, Iss 1, p 27 (2004) |
op_relation |
http://www.malariajournal.com/content/3/1/27 https://doaj.org/toc/1475-2875 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-3-27 1475-2875 https://doaj.org/article/f73254d73f28431497a1b96cbae27cc4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-3-27 |
container_title |
Malaria Journal |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
27 |
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1766344661811593216 |