Introduction: Snake bite envenomation is a tropical public health threat that has not been given the real attention. It affects more than 5 million people globally. It presents a public health threat to the Rwandan community, both for humans and animals. Between 2017 and 2018, the Eastern province of Rwanda recorded the highest cases of snakebites among human victims (39%) compared to other provinces. Proper and timely management of SBE can be lifesaving but depends on victims’ health-seeking behavior. Therefore, this research was conducted to assess the health-seeking behaviors of SBE victims bitten in 2022 in the Nyagatare District of Rwanda.
Methods: This research was carried out using cross-sectional study design and collected the data between January and December 2022 among 841 participants from Nyagatare District, in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. A quantitative questionnaire was used to assess the healthcare seeking behavior by SBE victims in the study location. A sample size of 462 respondents were determined by Fisher formula. The data was collected, entered, and analyzed by SPSS software version 21. The descriptive and inferential statistic were carried out and the data presentation was done using the tables and figures. The socio-demographic characteristics were analyzed and presented in tables using frequencies and percentages. The Likert scale was used to measure the variables related to health seeking behaviors with 5 points measurement scale. The Likert scale mean level were applied to create the high and the low level of health seeking behaviors. Dependent and independent variables were cross tabulated to measure the level of association with chi-square test of independence. Logistic regression analysis was used to find out factors contributing to healthcare seeking behavior. The significance level was established at the p value less than 0.05 with 95% confidence interval.
Results: This study findings revealed that 92.2% of study respondents used informal healthcare services, while 7.8% only used the formal system among victims of SBE in Nyagatare district in Rwanda. The overall health seeking behavior showed that 13% of the study participants had good health seeking behavior level while 87% had bad health seeking behavior level. Multivariate analysis findings showed that four factors were prominently associated with good health seeking behavior. The Age above 18 years old, the formal treatment area (Hospital or vet), the cardiovascular-digestive symptoms and people with low barriers. In a nutshell, the associated factors results were AOR: 4.784,95%CI: 1.931-11.852, p=0.001; AOR: 12.467, 95%CI: 5.587-27.818, p<0.001; AOR: 9.402, 95%CI:4.166-21.219, p<0.001; AOR: 9.055, 95%CI:3.235-25.342, p<0.001.
Conclusion: TThe MoH and policymakers are the prominent organization advantaged to set and improve the Onehealth principle and increase the formal healthcare seeking. They can indeed help to improve people’s health through awareness strategies and community enablement for their protection.
BT - African Journal of Biological Sciences LA - ENG M3 - Article N2 -Introduction: Snake bite envenomation is a tropical public health threat that has not been given the real attention. It affects more than 5 million people globally. It presents a public health threat to the Rwandan community, both for humans and animals. Between 2017 and 2018, the Eastern province of Rwanda recorded the highest cases of snakebites among human victims (39%) compared to other provinces. Proper and timely management of SBE can be lifesaving but depends on victims’ health-seeking behavior. Therefore, this research was conducted to assess the health-seeking behaviors of SBE victims bitten in 2022 in the Nyagatare District of Rwanda.
Methods: This research was carried out using cross-sectional study design and collected the data between January and December 2022 among 841 participants from Nyagatare District, in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. A quantitative questionnaire was used to assess the healthcare seeking behavior by SBE victims in the study location. A sample size of 462 respondents were determined by Fisher formula. The data was collected, entered, and analyzed by SPSS software version 21. The descriptive and inferential statistic were carried out and the data presentation was done using the tables and figures. The socio-demographic characteristics were analyzed and presented in tables using frequencies and percentages. The Likert scale was used to measure the variables related to health seeking behaviors with 5 points measurement scale. The Likert scale mean level were applied to create the high and the low level of health seeking behaviors. Dependent and independent variables were cross tabulated to measure the level of association with chi-square test of independence. Logistic regression analysis was used to find out factors contributing to healthcare seeking behavior. The significance level was established at the p value less than 0.05 with 95% confidence interval.
Results: This study findings revealed that 92.2% of study respondents used informal healthcare services, while 7.8% only used the formal system among victims of SBE in Nyagatare district in Rwanda. The overall health seeking behavior showed that 13% of the study participants had good health seeking behavior level while 87% had bad health seeking behavior level. Multivariate analysis findings showed that four factors were prominently associated with good health seeking behavior. The Age above 18 years old, the formal treatment area (Hospital or vet), the cardiovascular-digestive symptoms and people with low barriers. In a nutshell, the associated factors results were AOR: 4.784,95%CI: 1.931-11.852, p=0.001; AOR: 12.467, 95%CI: 5.587-27.818, p<0.001; AOR: 9.402, 95%CI:4.166-21.219, p<0.001; AOR: 9.055, 95%CI:3.235-25.342, p<0.001.
Conclusion: TThe MoH and policymakers are the prominent organization advantaged to set and improve the Onehealth principle and increase the formal healthcare seeking. They can indeed help to improve people’s health through awareness strategies and community enablement for their protection.
PY - 2024 SP - 1 EP - 20 T2 - African Journal of Biological Sciences TI - Health-seeking behaviors among snake bite envenomation victims bitten in 2022 Nyagatare District Rwanda UR - https://www.afjbs.com/uploads/paper/ff70e6484658dee70308073676742201.pdf ER -