Impact of Cultural Factors on the Management of Typhoid Fever in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

Health for all by the year 2000 was an objective by the World Health Assembly in 1979 following the International Conference on Primary Health Care in 1978.Follow-ups to this declaration indicated that, this objective was not realised because of the strategy used, which mainly focused on the delivery of the health services and on the role of the health sector in improving health outcomes. World Health Organization (WHO) and other member states have acknowledged that the social factors responsible for persisting inequalities in health in society are poverty, limited national resources, lack of education, population increase, poor sanitation and lack of awareness of the importance of health. There is also abundant evidence that major determinants of health lie outside the health sector and consequently, health cannot be achieved in isolation from other sectors. Despite the fact that most governments are making an effort to achieve health for all, the prevalence of typhoid fever is still very high. The objective of the study was to investigate the cultural factors that impact on the management of typhoid fever in Bungoma County. Descriptive survey research design was used. The target population was 876,491, 42 health staff and 16 village elders. Multi-stage, stratified, snowball, purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the study samples. Data collection instruments were interview schedules, observations, and focus group discussions. Data was analysed using the descriptive statistics. Culture was found to impact on the management of the fever. The study recommended that the health sector should work with other sectors in the management of typhoid fever since the determinants of health and hence typhoid lie outside the health sector.