Abstract
BackgroundMalaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea continue to kill millions of children in Africa despite the available and effective treatments. Correct diagnosis and prompt treatment with effective drugs at the first option consulted for child care is crucial for preventing severe disease and death from these illnesses. Using the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey data, the present study aims to assess care-seeking and management of suspected malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea at various health care facilities in Tanzania.MethodsWe analyzed data for 8176 children born within a 5 years period preceding the survey.The information was collected by interviewing 5519 women aged 15–49 years in 10,300 households selected from 475 sample points throughout Tanzania.ResultsThe most common first option for child care was PHC facilities (54.8%), followed by private pharmacies (23.4%). These were more commonly utilized in rural compared to urban areas: 61.2% versus 34.5% for PHC facilities, and 26.5% versus 17.7% for pharmacies. Women in urban areas and those with higher level of education more commonly utilized higher level hospitals and private facilities as their first option for child care. Only one in four children with fever had received a blood test during the illness with lowest proportion being reported among children solely attended at PHC facilities. Use of abandoned antimalarial drugs for the treatment of suspected malaria was also observed in public health facilities and antibiotics use for diarrhoea treatment was high (49.0%).ConclusionsPHC facilities and pharmacies most commonly provided sub-optimal care. These facilities were more commonly utilized as the first option for child care in rural areas and among the poor and non-educated families. These are groups with the highest child mortality, which calls for interventions’ targeting improvement of care at these facilities to further reduce child mortality from treatable illnesses in Tanzania.
Highlights
Even though the number of deaths among children under the age of five has fallen globally, still one in eight children dies before age five in Sub-Saharan Africa [1]
Using the most recent national survey data the current study aims to assess 1) the utilization of Primary health care (PHC) facilities as the first option for child care in relation to care seekers’ background characteristics, and 2) the management of the common childhood conditions above at various types of health care facilities consulted for child care in Tanzania
The majority were below 36 years (75%), were married (76.5%) and were from rural areas (77%)
Summary
Even though the number of deaths among children under the age of five has fallen globally, still one in eight children dies before age five in Sub-Saharan Africa [1]. Despite the available and effective treatments, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria remain the biggest killers of underfive children globally, accounting for 18%, 15% and 8% of all child deaths respectively in 2008 [2]. The three diseases were responsible for more than half of all child deaths in the African region in 2008; pneumonia 18%, diarrhoea 19% and malaria 16% [3] Primary prevention of these infections is often difficult to achieve, for children from poor families, correct diagnosis and prompt treatment with effective drugs very crucial in preventing child deaths from these illnesses. Correct diagnosis and prompt treatment with effective drugs at the first option consulted for child care is crucial for preventing severe disease and death from these illnesses.
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