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Delayed healthcare seeking is high among patients presented with sexually transmitted infections in HIV hotspot area, Gambella town, Ethiopia
Joint Event on Global Experts Meeting on STD-AIDS and Infectious Diseases & 12th International Conference on Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology
November 21-22, 2019 | Singapore
Mache Tsadik
Mekelle University, Ethiopia
Posters & Accepted Abstracts : J Infectious Disease Med Microbiol
Abstract:
Background: Delay healthcare seeking is one of the major
impediments to successfully prevent and control sexually
transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV. Gambella is one
of the HIV hot spot areas and the most HIV prevalent region
in the country. Considering the empirical knowledge of the
link between STIs and HIV, gathering information on health
seeking behaviour and the associated factors among STI
patients is helpful to design interventions that enhance early
seeking and treatment adherence.
Methodology: A facility based cross-sectional study was
employed to collect data from 424 STI patients from February
15 to April 15, 2017, using a face-to-face interview. A
consecutive sampling method was used until the allocated
sample for each facility was fulfilled. A multivariate logistic
regression analysis was used to identify factors associated
with health-seeking behavior.
Result: The proportion of delayed healthcare seeking among
patients treated for STIs was 56.8%. knowledge, behavior
and perception variables were found significantly associated
with early seeking behavior in multivariate logistic regression:
patients who had good knowledge of STIs (AOR = 1.74, 95%
CI = 1.10, 2.73), had single sexual partner (AOR = 1.83, 95%
CI = 1.19, 2.78), those who perceived stigma for STIs (AOR =
0.52, 95% CI = 0.34, 0.79), and perceived severity of STIs (AOR
= 1.97, 95% CI = 1.18, 3.29).
Conclusion: This study reported a high proportion of delayed
healthcare seeking. This may challenge the prevention and
control effort and alarms the potential threat to the spread of
STI/HIV in the region. Provision of intensive health education
is crucial to improve awareness and to avoid risk behaviors
and negative perceptions.
Biography:
E-mail:
adhana2008@gmail.comPDF HTML