ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1519027
HEALTH-SEEKING BEHAVIORS FOR COMMON CHILDHOOD ILLNESSES AND IS ASSOCIETED AMONG MOTHERS/CARETAKERS OF UNDER-FIVE CHILDREN IN HARO LIMU DISTRICT, EAST WOLLEGA, OROMIA, ETHIOPIA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY
Provisionally accepted
- 1Nekemte town health office, Oromia regional health bureau, Nekemte, Ethiopia
- 2Department of public health, Institute of Health Sciences, Wollega University, Nekemte, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
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Background: Healthcare has gained increasing significance in the quest to achieve a healthy society. On time healthcare seeking can reduce child mortality rates. In many developing countries, the health of children is closely tied to the health-seeking behaviors of their mothers/caretakers.Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of health care seeking behavior among mothers/caretakers for common childhood illnesses and to identify associated factors in Haro Limu district, East Wollega, West Ethiopia, in 2019.Method: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 20 to September 30, 2019 in the Haro Limu district. The required sample size was 459 mothers/caretakers with children under five old who had experienced common childhood illness within the four weeks preceding the study. A multistage random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Data were collected by health extension workers through face-to-face interview using structured questionnaire. The data were entered into Epi Data version 3.02 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis was undertaken to identify the factors associated with health care seeking. Findings were presented using table, phi-chart, bar-graph and narrative texts.Results: A total of 459 mothers/caregivers were involved in this study, achieving, 100% response rate. Among the children under-five who had experienced common childhood illness within the four weeks preceding the survey, 68% (95% CI:65% - 71.1%) sought care from health facilities. Having perceived severity of illness (AOR = 4.23, 95% CI: 2.27, 7.88), husband’s education secondary and above (AOR = 2.70, 95% CI: 1.29, 5.64) and being richest household (AOR= 2.40, 95% CI: 1.06, 5.44) were identified as independent predictors of mother/caretaker’s healthcare-seeking behavior. Conclusion: A considerable proportion of respondents did not seek care for their sick children at health facilities. It is essential to educate families and raise awareness in the community regarding the importance of seeking healthcare.
Keywords: Common childhood illness, Health seeking behavior, Under five children, Haro Limu, East Wollega
Received: 29 Oct 2024; Accepted: 28 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Oljira, Merdassa, Dessalegn and Desalegn. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Emiru Merdassa, Department of public health, Institute of Health Sciences, Wollega University, Nekemte, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
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