Health Seeking Behaviours for Malaria Treatment: A Study among International Students in the University of Ghana Legon.

Abstract

Malaria is one of the most challenging Public Health issues in the developing world. To combat malaria effects in highly endemic areas, several interventions are employed by stakeholders. A questionnaire-based descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to assess health-seeking behaviours for malaria treatment among international students in the University of Ghana, Legon. A systematic sampling method was used to select 264 International students. Consent was sought from participants, privacy and confidentiality were observed during the interviews. Ethical clearance was by Ghana Health Service Ethics Review Committee. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were run to determine associations between independent factors and health-seeking behaviours for malaria treatment. Eighty-seven (87%) were residing on campus, (51.1%) males, (72%) from African countries, 63.3% supported by their families, and 54.2% had health insurance. Respondents had a high score of 76.3% for knowledge about malaria. The main sources of malaria information included the following; school (79.6%), media (61.4%) and health facility (58.3%). Most of the respondents (35.2%) first used antimalarial only from the pharmacy, 26.9% took antimalarial with painkillers, 24.2% took only painkillers and (13.6%) first used herbs/prayers/warm bath. The majority, (57.6%) utilized health facility as a source of the second line of care as compared to 38.3% who sought further care from pharmacies. Factors such as health insurance (P=0.016), the continent of residence (P=0.05), accessibility of health services (P=0.006) and waiting time (P=0.001) had a significant association with the health- seeking behaviours of the respondents. Students who had health insurance (64.3%) were more likely to go to the health facility than those without health insurance (35.7%). Health facility is used more as a second-line option after self – medication failure. This practice by students leads to the abuse of these antimalarial thus, a need to provide more education to students on seeking appropriate care and treatment of malaria-related symptoms