Healthcare-seeking behavior for infectious diseases in a community in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Healthcare-seeking behavior is associated with the severity of infectious diseases, particularly in low-income countries. We need better understanding about the current healthcare-seeking behavior of rural people in low-resource settings. This study aimed to describe the healthcare-seeking behavior of rural people for infectious diseases and identify the associated factors. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in a rural community in Bangladesh. We interviewed a total of 450 persons to collect data on demographics, household income, household expenditure, and healthcare-seeking behavior. We performed a descriptive analysis to summarize the demographic characteristics and multivariate logistic regression analysis to identify the association between healthcare-seeking behavior and variables of interest. Results: Among the study participants, 42% went to the health facilities, 30% went to the pharmacy, 14% went to the nonregistered doctors, 1% went to the traditional healers, 1% went to the spiritual healer, and 2% took self-treatment. Proximity of the health-care facilities (prevalence ratio [PR] 1.97, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.55–2.49) and number of clinical symptoms (PR 1.23, 95% CI: 1–1.52) were significantly associated with the care-seeking behavior. Conclusions: Healthcare-seeking behavior for infectious diseases among rural people in Bangladesh was poor. Information obtained from this study could be useful to develop, design, and improve health-care systems in low-resource settings.

Keywords

• Bangladesh
• community
• healthcare-seeking behavior
• infectious diseases