Browsing by Author "Manahiri, Joyce"

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    Access to health care services and its influence on health status of children in Bahi district, Dodoma region, Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2018) Manahiri, Joyce
    This study assessed utilisation of health care services and influence on health status of under five children in Bahi District, Dodoma Region. This was a cross-sectional study carried out at 442 households with under five child born to mothers aged 15 to 49 years. The study used both quantitative and qualitative data collected through questionnaire, Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and documentary review. The study found that health services for under five children were mainly delivered through Mphangwe Dispensary including Bahi and Mwitikira Health Centers. However, such services were inaccessible and not utilized by some under five children. Findings revealed further that children given medicine other than panadol were 4.7 times more likely to die than those given panadol only (OR 4.689: 95% CI=1.597-13.772). That was due to incomplete dose and lack of adherence to prescribed medicines. Mothers aged 15-34 were 3.2 times more likely to experience child mortality than those aged 35-49 (OR: 3.230: 95% CI=1.177-8.867). It was because younger mothers did not have nursing experience. Mothers from households owning a mobile phone were 6 times more likely to experience child deaths than their counterparts with no phones (OR: 6.034; 95% CI=1.339-27.191). Their husbands owned mobile phones but did not use them for health matters. Children living less than 5 kilometres from health facilities were 2.6 times more likely to get malaria/diarrhoea/pneumonia than those residing more than five kilometres (OR: 2.381; 95% CI=1.312-5.077). Living near cultivated fields and swamps were sources for mosquito breeding and unimproved water sources. Households, whose sources of income involved agricultural products and household property were 3 times more likely to have stunted children than those who used agriculture and other sources (OR: 3.107; 95% CI=1.016-9.502). Agriculture was prone to harsh climatic condition(s). Children with health insurance membership were 4.4 times less likely to be stunted than those without such scheme (OR: O.225; 95% CI=0.661-0.826). Children from households that owned television/radio were 2.5 times less likely to be wasted than those who did not own such items (OR: 0.395; 95% CI= 0.235-0.664). Children who were given supplementary foods were 2.2 times less likely to be wasted than those who did not receive (OR: 0.45; 96% CI=0.236-0.857). The study found that there were poor implementation of child health programs by health practitioners and lack of commitment on program related tasks given to mothers/caretakers.Therefore, the study concludes that some under five children did not have access to available health services. Factors that had shown effect on child health imply that access and utilization of health services influence on a child's health status. However, contradictory findings show that some factors cannot show their effect on the child's health if there is no enabling environment. Similarly, prevalence of some health problems in particular places is determined by factors other than lack of access and utilization of health care services. In addition, the study recommends that health practitioners should assess quality of health services and make them attractive to users. Likewise, they should assess implementation of child health programs so as to identify gaps for better performance. On the other hand, mothers/caretakers should shape their health seeking behaviour and be committed as well as accept child health initiatives established by the government and other health practitioners in their settings.
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    Access to health care services and its influence on health status of children in Bahi district, Dodoma region, Tanzania
    (2018) Manahiri, Joyce
    study assessed utilisation of health care services and influence on health status of under five children in Bahi District, Dodoma region. This was a cross – sectional study carried out at 442 households with under five child born to mothers aged 15 to 49 years. The study used both quantitative data collected through questionnaire, focus group discussion (FGD) and documentary review. The study found that health services for under five children were mainly delivered through Mphangwe dispensary including Bahi and Mwitikira health centers . However, such servicers were inaccessible and not utilized by some under five children. Findings revealed further that children given medicine other than panadol were 4.7 times more likely to die than those given panadol only (OR 4.689: 95% C1 =1.597-13.772). That was due incomplete dose and lack of adherence to prescribed medicine. Mothers aged 15-34 were 3.2 times more likely to experience child mortality than those aged 35-49(OR:3.230:95%CI=1.177-8.867). It was because younger mothers did not have nursing experience. Mothers from household s owning a mobile phone were 6 times more likely to experience child deaths than their counterparts with no phones (OR: 6.034: 95% C1= 1.339-27.191).Their husbands owned mobile phones but did not use them for health matters. Children living less than 5 kilometers from health facilities were 2.6times more likely to get malaria/diarrhea/pneumonia than those residing more than five kilometers (OR :2.381; 95% CI= 1.312-5.077). Living near cultivated fields and swamps were source for mosquito breeding and unimproved water sources. Households, whose sources of income involved agricultural products and households property were 3 times more likely to have stunted children than those who used agriculture and other sources (OR:3.107; 95% CI= 1.016-9.502). Agriculture was prone to harsh climatic condition(s). Children with health insurance membership were 4.4 times less likely to be stunted than those without such scheme (OR:0225;95% CI= 0.661-0.826). Children from households that owned television/ radio were 2.5 time less likely to be wasted than those who did not own such items (OR:O.395; 95% CI=0.235-0.664). Children were given supplementary foods were 2.2 times less likely to be wasted than those who did not receive (OR: 0.45; 96% C1=0.236-0.857). The study found that there were poor implementation of child health programs by health practitioners and lack of commitment on program related task given to mothers/ caretakers. Therefore the study, concludes that some under five children did not have access to available health services. Factors that had shown effect on child health imply that access and utilization of health services influence on a child’s health status. However, contradictory findings show that some factors cannot show their effect on the child’s health if there is no enabling environment. Similarly, prevalence of some health problems in particular places is determined by factors other than lack of access and utilization of health care services. In addition, the study recommends that health practitioners should assess quality of health services and make them attractive to users. Likewise, they should assess implementation of child health programs so as to identify gaps for better performance. On the other hand, mothers/ caretakers should shape their seeking behavior and be committed as well as accept child health initiatives established by the government and other health practitioners in their settings This
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    Tile Relationship between some demographic and socio economic characteristics of mother and under five health status: the case study of Ngara district, Tanzania
    (Unversity of Dar es Salaam, 2007) Manahiri, Joyce
    This study aims at establishing whether or not less than five health statuses in Ngara district is related to some socio-economic and demographic characteristics of mother. Data obtained through mother's interviews are a basis of die findings of the investigation. Interview schedule was the main instrument used to get information from 200 mothers aged 15-49 years with one under five children. The youngest child among the under five children born to one mother was obtained for the research, making a total of 200 under five children who were studied. Other instruments used were documentary sources and observation. The investigation took place from September to October 2005. The need for doing this research arose from the fact that despite all efforts done by the government in collaboration with International agencies in improving health status of its people, the burden of diseases is still a problem in the country. Under five illnesses contribute to a significant proportion of the country disease trouble. In view of the fact that mother's characteristics are thought to be important in the improvement of under five health status, some of them were thus considered in the analysis. These are: mother's education, occupation, residence, age, marital status, number of surviving children, breastfeeding (aequency, duration and exclusive breastfeeding) and frequency of feeding. The main objective of the research was to examine the relationship between these characteristics and under five health status in the district. From the analysis, mother's education, occupation, residence, duration and frequency of breastfeeding were found to have significant relationship with incidence of diarrhoea/malaria/fever as an indicator of under five health status. Incidence of these diseases decreases with an increase in mother's education. Children born to mothers with white collar jobs had low incidence of diseases followed by petty business, then peasant mothers with highest prevalence of all. Rural areas were found to have high prevalence compared to urban areas. On the other hand, mother's age, marital status, number of surviving children exclusive breastfeeding and frequency of feeding were found not to be related with episode of diarrhoea/malaria/fever. Based on the findings it is recommended that: the Government and community should put more effort on educating women and empower them not only in urban but also in rural residence;husbands should give their wives more time for child care and resting than that spent on other activities; peasant mothers should organize themselves in groups and ask for loans from various financial institutions for investment; government should put more effort in improving social services in rural areas; mothers who perform white collar jobs should utilize fully the time when they are with their babies (especially during the night) in breastfeeding them; and the eminent and NGOs should extend time for maternity leave. It is also that this research should be replicated by using reasonable sample so as get better results.