From: Illness recognition and care-seeking for maternal and newborn complications in rural eastern Uganda
Domain | Maternal cases | Newborn cases | Intervention area | Comparison area |
---|---|---|---|---|
Illness recognition | Illnesses fairly quickly recognized | Delay in recognition of illness––symptoms | Illness seems to be more quickly recognized Interviews reveal better knowledge of danger signs Knowledge attained from the VHTs and Health workers Minimal influence of culture | Larger delay in Illness recognition Less knowledge of danger signs Culture plays big role in delay in recognition |
Cause of illness and death mainly reported as biological | Cause of illness and death unknown and mainly reported as God’s will. Other causes reported are witchcraft | |||
Decision makers | The focal woman, husband, and mother in law are key decision makers | The mother and mother in law are key decision makers Husband only contacted when a referral is required or the illness is complicated | ||
Care-seeking | Care sought mainly from formal health care providers Although informal in a few cases | First care-seeking point is home. Home remedies tried first before others | Care sought from multiple points up to 4 steps Most cases sought care from government health facilities and private clinics | Care sought from 1 to 2 points Care sought mainly from government facilities and informal providers |
Care-seeking relatively fast | Delay in care-seeking | |||
Community initiatives influence | Women report about the helpfulness of VSLAs/women’s groups to facilitate care-seeking | No women’s savings groups |