Delayed health care seeking is high among patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections in HIV hotspot areas, Gambella town, Ethiopia

Mache Tsadik,1 Lul Lam,2 Zinabu Hadush11School of Public Health, College of Health Science, Mekelle University, Tigray, Ethiopia; 2Department of Disease Prevention and Control, Gambella Regional Health Bureau, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Mache TsadikSchool of Public Health, College of Health Science, Me...

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Autores principales:	Tsadik M, Lam L, Hadush Z
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Dove Medical Press 2019
Materias:	Health seeking behavior sexually transmitted infection Gambella Immunologic diseases. Allergy RC581-607
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/517416335d0545088e078aec5fdc2efa
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:517416335d0545088e078aec5fdc2efa2021-12-02T09:49:11ZDelayed health care seeking is high among patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections in HIV hotspot areas, Gambella town, Ethiopia1179-1373https://doaj.org/article/517416335d0545088e078aec5fdc2efa2019-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.dovepress.com/delayed-health-care-seeking-is-high-among-patients-presenting-with-sex-peer-reviewed-article-HIVhttps://doaj.org/toc/1179-1373Mache Tsadik,1 Lul Lam,2 Zinabu Hadush11School of Public Health, College of Health Science, Mekelle University, Tigray, Ethiopia; 2Department of Disease Prevention and Control, Gambella Regional Health Bureau, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Mache TsadikSchool of Public Health, College of Health Science, Mekelle University, Tigray, EthiopiaTel +251 91 474 3841Email adhana2008@gmail.comBackground: Delayed health care 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 behavior 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.Results: The proportion of delayed health care seeking among patients treated for STIs was 56.8%. Knowledge, number of sexual partners, and perception variables were found significantly associated with early seeking behavior in multivariate logistic regression: patients who had better 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 health care 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.Keywords: health, seeking, behavior, sexually, transmitted, infection, GambellaTsadik MLam LHadush ZDove Medical PressarticleHealth seeking behaviorsexually transmitted infectionGambellaImmunologic diseases. AllergyRC581-607ENHIV/AIDS: Research and Palliative Care, Vol Volume 11, Pp 201-209 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Health seeking behavior sexually transmitted infection Gambella Immunologic diseases. Allergy RC581-607
spellingShingle	Health seeking behavior sexually transmitted infection Gambella Immunologic diseases. Allergy RC581-607 Tsadik M Lam L Hadush Z Delayed health care seeking is high among patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections in HIV hotspot areas, Gambella town, Ethiopia
description	Mache Tsadik,1 Lul Lam,2 Zinabu Hadush11School of Public Health, College of Health Science, Mekelle University, Tigray, Ethiopia; 2Department of Disease Prevention and Control, Gambella Regional Health Bureau, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Mache TsadikSchool of Public Health, College of Health Science, Mekelle University, Tigray, EthiopiaTel +251 91 474 3841Email adhana2008@gmail.comBackground: Delayed health care 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 behavior 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.Results: The proportion of delayed health care seeking among patients treated for STIs was 56.8%. Knowledge, number of sexual partners, and perception variables were found significantly associated with early seeking behavior in multivariate logistic regression: patients who had better 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 health care 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.Keywords: health, seeking, behavior, sexually, transmitted, infection, Gambella
format	article
author	Tsadik M Lam L Hadush Z
author_facet	Tsadik M Lam L Hadush Z
author_sort	Tsadik M
title	Delayed health care seeking is high among patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections in HIV hotspot areas, Gambella town, Ethiopia
title_short	Delayed health care seeking is high among patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections in HIV hotspot areas, Gambella town, Ethiopia
title_full	Delayed health care seeking is high among patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections in HIV hotspot areas, Gambella town, Ethiopia
title_fullStr	Delayed health care seeking is high among patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections in HIV hotspot areas, Gambella town, Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed	Delayed health care seeking is high among patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections in HIV hotspot areas, Gambella town, Ethiopia
title_sort	delayed health care seeking is high among patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections in hiv hotspot areas, gambella town, ethiopia
publisher	Dove Medical Press
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/517416335d0545088e078aec5fdc2efa
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Delayed health care seeking is high among patients presenting with sexually transmitted infections in HIV hotspot areas, Gambella town, Ethiopia

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