Socio-demographic factors associated with treatment against soil-transmitted helminth infections in children aged 12-59 months using the health facility approach alone or combined with a community-directed approach in a rural area of Zambia.
A health facility-based (HF) approach to delivering anthelminthic drugs to children aged 12-59 months in Zambia was compared with an approach where community-directed treatment (ComDT) was added to the HF approach (HF+ComDT). This paper reports on the socio-demographic factors associated with treatment coverage in the HF+ComDT and HF areas after 18 months of implementation. Data were collected by interviewing 288 and 378 caretakers of children aged 12-59 months in the HF+ComDT and HF areas, respectively. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used for data analysis. Statistically significant predictors of a child being treated were: a child coming from the HF+ComDT area, being 12-36 months old, the family having lived in the area for >20 years, coming from a household with only one under-five child and living ≤3 km from the health facility. It is concluded that socio-demographic factors are of public health relevance and affect treatment coverage in both the HF+ComDT and the HF approaches. The implementation and strengthening of interventions like ComDT that bring treatment closer to households will enable more children to have access to treatment.
Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
H
H
Halwindi
P
P
Magnussen
S
S
Siziya
D W
DW
Meyrowitsch
A
A
Olsen
D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D012987:Soil / Q000469:parasitology*; D015024:Zambia / Q000453:epidemiology
D000871:Anthelmintics; D012987:Soil