Delay in healthcare seeking and associated factors among caregivers of children aged 2-59 months with pneumonia in public health facilities ofNekemte city, Western Ethiopia, 2022

Abstract

Abstract Background:Pneumonia is an infectious disease that is the predominant cause of death among under-five children (U5C) in low- and middle-income countries. It is the second leading cause of death in Ethiopia. Delay in healthcare seeking is one of the contributing factors to pneumonia-associated mortality. There is a limitation to the study aimed at identifying health-seeking behavior and risk factors in the Western part of Ethiopia. The study aims to identify the level of delay in healthcare seeking and associated factors among caregivers of U5C in public health facilities in Nekemte city, Western Ethiopia. Methods: A health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st March to 5th April 2022 using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire from 410 caregivers of children aged 2–59 months. We used a Systematic sampling technique for collecting the data. Data were entered into Epi Data version 4.6.06 and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Binary logistic regression was used to identify the associated factors of delay in healthcare seeking at a p-value < 0.05 using a 95 % confidence interval (CI). Results: A proportion of delay in healthcare seeking was 62.2%.Rural residence (AOR= 2.77, 95% CI: 2.48-5.17), child aged ≥12months (AOR: 5.4; 95 %CI: 4.17-7.20), family’s monthly income of less than 1000 ETB (AOR: 6.11, 95% CI: 2.16-17.26, p=0.001), not using health insurance (AOR: 8.93; 95 %CI: 5.43-14.68), use of self-medication (AOR: 10.97; 95% CI: 1.85-65.3), poor knowledge (AOR: 4.63; 95% CI: 1.35-15.9), perceiving illness as mild (AOR:14.97; 95% CI: 9.76-22.9) and no previous admission history (AOR: 2.85; 95 % CI 1.77-4.56). Conclusion: The study emphasizes that caregivers' delays in healthcare seeking are high. Creating caregivers' awareness or providing adequate health education to develop early healthcare seeking behavior and encouraging caregivers to use health insurance is essential.