Fever: A Literature Review of Perceptions, Perspectives and Practices

Abstract

Previous and extant studies on home management of childhood fever among caregivers in most contexts have shown that the perceptions, perspectives and common practices associated with fever have not changed significantly. Generally, caregivers in all contexts are still managing childhood fever aggressively due to fever phobia. In particular, caregivers in resource poor countries such as sub-Saharan Africa still have cultural believes about fever which often underscores the pervasive hybrid of traditional and inadequate orthodox approaches to home management of fever. There is thus need for culturally sensitive and competent health literacy interventions to mitigate deleterious impacts of perceptions, perspectives and common practices related to home management of fever universally.