Patients′ perception of the quality of malaria treatment in primary health care centers of Jos and Environs

Abstract

Background: Though the fight against malaria continued to be on the increased, the disease still remains a major public health problem in many developing countries, especially in the rural areas. The extent of drug use and its effect is affected among other things by the pattern in which these drugs are prescribed by the health workers. Patients' assessment of the quality of care depends on their ability to judge whether health care providers are adhering to the defined standard of care, hence it is necessary to assess the views of patients regarding the quality of care they received from the primary health care (PHC) centers. Aim: This study aimed at evaluating consumer's perception of the quality of malaria treatment in PHC centers of Jos and environs. Materials and Methods: Nine PHC centers were selected by multi-stage random sampling, five from Jos North and four from Jos South Local Government Areas of Plateau State. Patients of both sexes within the age range of 18 years and above who visited the PHC centers for malaria treatment were considered eligible to participate in the survey, provided that they were able to understand and respond to the interview questions. A semi-structured interviewer questionnaire which was adapted from previous health survey studies was administered to all the 249 eligible participants. The data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 software programmer. Results: The result showed that there were no consistently significant differences (P > 0.05) regarding patient satisfaction between male and female patients across selected items in the various domains, that is, irrespective of respondents' sex, their perception of the quality of health services rendered by PHCs was similar. Conclusion: It was therefore concluded that there was similar satisfaction level between the male and the female, though some key health services were not readily available in the PHC; most services that were available were readily accessible.