Assessment of Barriers that Delay Foracute Malnutrition Treatment services among Caretakers having under-five Children in Lay-Gaynt, Northwest Ethiopia: 2020. Descriptive Qualitative Study.

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2020-11

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Addis Abeba University

Abstract

Background:about 55 million children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition.The problem is aggravated by acute malnutrition treatment delay due to different barriers.As pointed out in Nigeria, about 39% of the population access health facility within one hour walk during the dry season and it decreased to 24% during the wet season(1). Likewise, evidences showed that there was a high admission rate for under-five children in Ethiopia. However; evidences in the study areawere rare to explore the barriers for early treatment.Thus, exploring barriers that delay for acute malnutrition caresof under-5 children qualitatively to have detail understanding and evidence-based interventions in a holistic approach are vital. Objectives:The objective aimed toexplore the barriersthat delay for acute malnutrition treatment servicesamong parents/caregivers having under-five children from June 01/2020 to August 28/2020. Methods:A descriptive qualitative content analysis study with a purposivesampling technique were employed to conduct in-depth interview and key informant interview.The data was collected by twotrained research assistants from6 parents/caregiversfor in-depth interviewsand16participants for the key informant interview withobservations of the practice.Open code version 4.02 software was used for data managementduring analysis. Coding and codebook were prepared. There were simultaneous data collection and initial analysis to grasp what was said and how it was said by memoing; verbatim transcription was undertaken. A qualitative content analysis method was hired to conduct the analysis process.Result: Parents faced lack of health seeking behaviour: lack of awareness, perceptions of illness behaviour,poverty, workload and traditional beliefs; poor infrastructures and difficult geographical setup, the travel distance, inaccessibility of the service,and lack of organized treatment facility, COVID-19 pandemic, lack of sustainable interventions, lack of skilled and committed health worker, lack of health worker training, discontinuity of stock supplyand long waiting time to receive the treatment were identified as the barrier for early prevention and treatment of under-5 child acute malnutrition. Conclusion:The health education and promotion on social behaviour change communication (SBCC)had to be strengthened, and monitored along with health workers skill development and successive trainings. There should be strong and close monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of the service provision and inter-sectoral collaborations among different sectors. It also needs to evaluate the impacts of projects in the area on SBCC forAMTS

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Keywords

under-five child acute malnutrition, acute malnutrition treatment barrier, under five children, Treatment delay, Lay Gaynet, Amhara, Ethiopia

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