ABSTRACT
To examine the use of health services for the treatment of childhood diarrhea in three southern provinces of Vietnam, and identified household, maternal, child and health service characteristics associated with this use, a cross-sectional household survey was conducted between November 1998 and January 1999. Women with a pre-school aged child living at home were the primary respondents for the survey questionnaires. Respondents were asked to recall diarrheal disease events experienced by their child during the two weeks prior to interview, and their responses to these events. Prevalence ratios (PR) were used to identify associations between maternal age, education, occupation, ethnicity, knowledge about diarrhea, feeding practises during diarrhea, household residence and economic status, disease severity, use of oral rehydration solution (ORS), time to nearest health care facility and overall satisfaction with local medical services, and the use of health care services for children ill with diarrhea. The two-week period prevalence of childhood diarrhea was 10% and varied by the province and ethnicity of the child's mother. Forty-three percent of mothers reported using ORS during diarrheal episodes. Seventy percent of mothers sought advice or treatment when their child became ill with diarrhea. After controlling for potential confounders in regression models, maternal ethnicity, maternal high school education (in comparison to no education or incomplete primary education), more severe disease and the use of ORS were factors associated with increased utilization of health care services. There was a low level of the utilization of ORS to treat children with diarrhea, especially by ethnic minority mothers. A high percentage of mothers reported low levels of satisfaction with medical services, especially those from ethnic minorities. Mothers from ethnic minorities and those with lower levels of education were less likely to seek advice or treatment. These findings suggest the need for programs to promote the use of ORS and use of appropriate services for the treatment of childhood diarrheal disease. Interventions are needed to improve the access of ethnic minority children to child health care services for the treatment of diarrhea.