Abstract
Background: Late diagnosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and delayed commencement of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa is known to contribute to high morbidity and mortality. It is therefore, prudent to develop innovative approaches to ensure early HIV diagnosis because patients with low immunity will usually develop opportunistic infections and seek some remedial action. A treatment and health care seeking behavior survey was carried out in semi-urban communities in Malaba and Busia in Kenya and Uganda to evaluate the treatment and healthcare seeking behavior among patients visiting randomly selected drugstores. Methodology: Random sampling was applied and questionnaires were used to collect information from 165 interviewees who visited drugstores seeking health information, treatment and other health related services. Results: The results indicated that among this group of people, 67% visited drugstores before any other health facility. 72.2% sought treatment for various illnesses and services ranging from headaches, body fever, gastro-intestinal disturbances, family planning pills, sexually transmitted infections and chronic medications. Among the patients interviewed, there were a number of factors that affected treatment choice. These included the distance to the facility as well as the absence of a consultation fee or fee for service. Conclusion: With proper support, drugstores can play a major role in the implementation of health interventions that seek to promote early diagnosis and treatment as well as play a pivotal role in educating the population on disease prevention and management. In Sub-Saharan Africa, drugstores can play a major role in HIV and AIDS interventions where most patients seek medical intervention for opportunistic infection.
Highlights
Late diagnosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and delayed commencement of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa is known to contribute to high morbidity and mortality
The results indicated that among this group of people, 67% visited drugstores before any other health facility. 72.2% sought treatment for various illnesses and services ranging from headaches, body fever, gastro-intestinal disturbances, family planning pills, sexually transmitted infections and chronic medications
Epi-info® statistical software was used for data management and analysis. Data from this survey were analyzed according to patient demographics, reasons for seeking treatment, first treatment option as well as common reasons given by patients for choosing health care providers
Summary
Late diagnosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and delayed commencement of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa is known to contribute to high morbidity and mortality. It is prudent to develop innovative approaches to ensure early HIV diagnosis because patients with low immunity will usually develop opportunistic infections and seek some remedial action. Treatment seeking behaviour can be used as an indicator of a patient’s willingness to preserve life, and is crucial to personal, societal and national development [1] In this survey treatment seeking behavior refers to “the sequence of remedial actions that individuals undertake to rectify perceived ‘ill health’. For efficient disease control and management, the individual and community’s treatment seeking behaviour needs to be understood as it influences the duration of symptoms and the probability of morbidity and harmful sequelae [1]
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