Factors Affecting Utilization of Health Stations in Yererna Kereyu Awraja

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Date

1989-05

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

This case control study was conducted on a sample of 1000 users of services of health stations (cases) and 1000 non-users of the services (controls) during the study period which was between October 17 and November 26 1988. The study was done in 6 randomly selected health stations and villages within a 5 km radius of the health stations in Yererna Kereyu Awraja, central Ethiopia, where the author is the district health manager. The major objective of the stud y was to determine factors influencing the utilization of health stations in the Awraja. Information from the study population was collected on different factors which possibly affect utilization, including demographic factors, such as age, sex, occupation, ethnici ty and education; Socio-cul tural factors, such as people's at ti tude toward the health workers and services; and economic status of the people. The mean age of the study population was 20.8 years and 60.9% of the subjects were women. Farmers constituted 53.3%, the Oromo ethnic group 59.7% and the literacy rate was 48.3%. Case contro l analyses of the 2 groups showed that non-utilizers were more likely than utilizers to come from the younger or older age groups, to be female, to be a farmer, to be from the Oromo ethnic group, & to have a lower level of education. There was also a difference between cases and controls in perceived travel time to the health units, perceived quality of the services, knowledge about free • services, knowledge about the importance, and availability of some of the services, and the income pattern. There was no significant difference between the users and non-users with regard to religion, marital status of the respondents, or who advised the individuals to use or not to use the services. These differences indicate a need to teach communi ties about health & health services and to reduce socio-cultural barriers to utilization of the services.

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Factors Affecting Utilization of Health Sta tions

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