UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Pneumonia knowledge and care seeking behavior for children under-five years in Jigawa, Northwest Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Bakare, Ayobami A; King, Carina; Salako, Julius; Bakare, Damola; Uchendu, Obioma C; Burgess, Rochelle Ann; Shittu, Funmilayo; ... Graham, Hamish R; + view all (2023) Pneumonia knowledge and care seeking behavior for children under-five years in Jigawa, Northwest Nigeria: a cross-sectional study. Frontiers in Public Health , 11 , Article 1198225. 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1198225. Green open access

[thumbnail of fpubh-11-1198225.pdf]
Preview
PDF
fpubh-11-1198225.pdf - Published Version

Download (804kB) | Preview

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Between 2013 and 2022, Nigeria did not meet globally defined targets for pneumonia control, despite some scale-up of vaccinations, oxygen and antibiotics. A deliberate focus on community-based programs is needed to improve coverage of protective, preventive and treatment interventions. We therefore aimed to describe caregiver knowledge and care seeking behaviour for childhood pneumonia, in a high child mortality setting in Nigeria, to inform the development of effective community-based interventions for pneumonia control. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional household survey in Kiyawa Local Government Area, Jigawa State, Nigeria between December 2019 and March 2020. We asked caregivers about their knowledge of pneumonia symptoms, prevention, risks, and treatment. A score of 1 was assigned for each correct response. We showed them videos of pneumonia specific symptoms and asked (1) if their child had any respiratory symptoms in the 2-weeks prior; (2) their subsequent care-seeking behaviour. Multivariate regressions explored socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with care seeking. RESULTS: We surveyed 1,661 eligible women, with 2,828 children under-five. Only 4.9% of women could name both cough and difficulty/fast breathing as pneumonia symptoms, and the composite knowledge scores for pneumonia prevention, risks and treatment were low. Overall, 19.0% (536/2828) of children had a report of pneumonia specific symptoms in the prior two-weeks, and of these 32.3% (176/536) were taken for care. The odds of care seeking was higher among children: with fever (AOR:2:45 [95% CI: 1.38-4.34]); from wealthiest homes (AOR: 2:13 [95% CI: 1.03-4.38]) and whose mother first married at 20-26 years compared to 15-19 years (AOR: 5.15 [95% CI: 1.38-19.26]). Notably, the caregiver's knowledge of pneumonia was not associated with care seeking. CONCLUSION: While some socio-demographic factors were associated with care seeking for children with symptoms of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), caregiver's knowledge of the disease was not. Therefore, when designing public health interventions to address child mortality, information-giving alone is likely to be insufficient.

Type: Article
Title: Pneumonia knowledge and care seeking behavior for children under-five years in Jigawa, Northwest Nigeria: a cross-sectional study
Location: Switzerland
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1198225
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1198225
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Acute respiratory infection, care seeking, knowledge, pneumonia, sub-Saharan Africa, Humans, Child, Female, Cross-Sectional Studies, Nigeria, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Pneumonia, Respiratory Tract Infections, Dyspnea
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10174865
Downloads since deposit
27Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item