Treatment seeking behaviour and prevalence of treatment delay among malaria patients along Thailand-Myanmar border in Tak province

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate treatment seeking behaviour and the prevalence of treatment delay of malaria patients. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted with malaria patients along the Thailand-Myanmar border in Tak province, Thailand. ResultsMost of patients (70.0%) were treated for fever before receiving treatment at a malaria clinic or public hospital. The sources of initial treatments were self-treatment (64.0%), malaria clinics (20.0%), public hospital (11.0%), sub-district health promotion hospital (3.3%), and malaria posts (1.1%). Prevalence of patients delayed more than one day after onset of symptoms was 79.4%, but doctor delay of more than one day occurred in only 1.3%. The prevalence of treatment delay (total delay) of more than one day was 79.6%. Patient delay and treatment delay were found to be significantly higher among hill tribe than Thai subjects (P=0.004 and 0.003, respectively) but, there was no significant association between ethnicity and doctor delay (P=0.669). ConclusionPatient delay in seeking treatment is a major problem along the Thailand-Myanmar border in Tak province, especially in hill tribe people. Self-treatment accounted for most of initial treatment sought by patients.