Where do people from different socio-economic groups receive diagnosis and treatment for presumptive malaria, in south-eastern Nigeria?
The relationship between the socio-economic status (SES) of a household and its sources of malaria diagnosis and treatment was explored in south-eastern Nigeria. One aim was to see if, as seems likely, the poorest people generally seek care from 'low-level' providers, such as traditional healers and community-based healthworkers, because of their severe budget constraints. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were used to collect information from 1197 randomly selected respondents from four villages where malaria is holo-endemic. An index was used to categorize the study households into SES quartiles. The self-diagnosis of presumptive malaria and the use of patent-medicine dealers for treatment were very common among all the SES groupings. Compared with the other interviewees, however, the least-poor were significantly more likely to rely on laboratory tests for diagnosis and to visit hospitals when seeking treatment for presumptive malaria. The most-poor, in contrast, were significantly more likely to seek treatment from traditional healers or community-based healthworkers. Thus, even though the use of low-level providers was so common, there was still evidence of wealth-related inequity--in terms of the probabilities of the good diagnosis and treatment of malaria. Improvements in the quality of malaria diagnosis and treatment by the providers patronised by the most-poor villagers would help to redress this inequity, at least in the short- to medium-term.
Onwujekwe
O
O
Gates Malaria Partnership, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. onwujekwe@yahoo.co.uk
Ojukwu
J
J
Uzochukwu
B
B
Dike
N
N
Ikeme
A
A
Shu
E
E
D003153:Community Health Services; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D016488:Medicine, African Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011203:Poverty; D012423:Rural Health; D012648:Self Care; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors