Women’s Educational Attainment And Health-Seeking Behaviour For Childhood Illnesses In Ghana

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Date

2020-10

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University Of Ghana

Abstract

Childhood illnesses are among the main health problems globally and predominantly in Asian and African subcontinents. About 6.0 million under-five children died in 2018 worldwide, which could be prevented with simple and inexpensive interventions. Educating women empowers them by increasing their autonomy. Women with greater power are able to influence health care decisions for their children compared to women with less education. Mothers’ ability to act appropriately and promptly to illness symptoms will reduce childhood morbidity and mortality. Assessing the health-seeking behaviour of mothers and identifying specific factors influencing health-seeking are essential to advance strategies and interventions for child survival strategies in the country. The study examines the relationship between mothers’ education and health-seeking behaviour during childhood morbidities in Ghana, using the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) data. A sample of 638 and 1,189 children with diarrhoea and fever/cough symptoms were used in the study. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistical tools were used to analyse the data. Findings reveal that 30.1% and 25.8% of mothers sought no treatment, while 47.1% and 52.8% sought medical treatment and 22.8% and 21.4% sought non-medical treatment for children exhibiting diarrhoea and fever/cough symptoms respectively. In the multivariate analysis, mothers with no education were significantly more likely to seek non-medical treatment compared to mothers with secondary/higher education. Results also show that mother’s age, ethnicity, religion, region, place of residence, wealth index, working status and age of child were significant predictors for health-seeking behaviour for childhood illnesses in Ghana. Less educated mothers are more likely to use other forms of treatments such as pharmacy, drug peddlers and traditional practitioners instead of visits to medical facilities when children show fever/cough symptoms. The study suggests that improving the educational status of women will improve better health-seeking practices as mothers will seek appropriate treatment to increase the chances of child survival during ill-health.

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M.A. Population Studies

Keywords

Women’s Educational Attainment, Health-Seeking Behaviour, Childhood Illnesses, Ghana

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