Treatment seeking behavior of DHF patients in Thailand.

A study on treatment seeking behavior of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) patients was made from 184 clinically diagnosed patients in three hospitals: Children's Hospital, Bangkok; Suphan Buri Provincial Hospital, Suphan Buri Province and Don Chedi Community Hospital in the district of Don Chedi, Suphan Buri Province. The information was collected by interviewing the patients' caretakers while they were attending the patients in the hospitals, using a series of closed- and open-ended questions. Based on the first place of treatment, five patterns of treatment seeking behavior were identified, the most common one was using the clinic as the first step. Different patterns of treatment seeking behavior had the impact on the duration of illness, the number of steps in seeking treatment and the direct patient costs. The socio-demographic characteristics of the patient's caretaker that influenced the decision making to take treatment alternatives included the level of education, occupation, residential area and lay symptom assessment. In addition, economic factors: the capability to reimburse the cost of treatment, the family income and the financial sources, were also important for caretakers to take into consideration when making treatment choices.

Relationship of the morbidity of under-fives to anthropometric measurements and community health intervention.

In a 3-year prospective morbidity study in seven villages of northeast Thailand the health of preschool children was assessed every alternate week by questioning the mothers. The nutritional status was determined by weight-for-age, weight-for-height and height-for-age every third month. In four villages active measures were undertaken to improve the health and nutritional status of the children. A child had an average of 2.5 illness episodes and was ill 14.1 days per year. More than 80% of all illness episodes could be accounted to ill-defined infections such as fever and cough with only 5.2% accountable to diarrhoea. A marked decline in the rate of illness episodes was observed in communities where cooperation was good. Weight-for-height is a better indicator for determining children at risk of falling ill than weight-for-age and height-for-age. The duration of illness episodes was not related to the nutritional status.