Health-seeking behaviour in the city of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo: results from a cross-sectional household survey. BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:173.
Mukalenge F Chenge
Background – Concerns about the occurrence of disease among household members generally initiate treatment-seeking actions. This study aims to identify the various treatment-seeking options of patients in Lubumbashi, analyze their health-seeking behaviour, identify determinants for the use of formal care, and analyze direct health care expenditure.
Methods – A cross-sectional survey of households in Lubumbashi was conducted in July 2010. Information was collected from a randomly selected sample of 251 households with at least one member who had been ill in the 2 weeks preceding the survey.
Conclusions -This study points to the importance of self-medication as the first therapeutic option for the
majority of patients in Lubumbashi, whatever the nature of the health problem. There is a lot of room to rationalise this practice. Although formal care is not common initial therapeutic option, it is the source of care most patients turn to, especially when they believe having a chronic disease. Patients’ itineraries in this urban environment are complex; health managers should try and deal with this reality. Finally, our study indicates that poor patients face the same level of out-of-pocket payments as the more wealthy ones, hence the need for more equitable health care financing arrangements.
