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Cambridge University Press, Journal of Biosocial Science, 1(45), p. 95-109, 2012

DOI: 10.1017/s0021932012000302

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Socio-demographic factors associated with treatment against soil-transmitted helminth infections in children aged 12-59 months using the health facility approach alone or combined with a community-directed approach in a rural area of Zambia

Journal article published in 2012 by H. Halwindi, P. Magnussen, S. Siziya, D. W. Meyrowitsch ORCID, A. Olsen ORCID
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Abstract

SummaryA health facility-based (HF) approach to delivering anthelminthic drugs to children aged 12–59 months in Zambia was compared with an approach where community-directed treatment (ComDT) was added to the HF approach (HF+ComDT). This paper reports on the socio-demographic factors associated with treatment coverage in the HF+ComDT and HF areas after 18 months of implementation. Data were collected by interviewing 288 and 378 caretakers of children aged 12–59 months in the HF+ComDT and HF areas, respectively. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used for data analysis. Statistically significant predictors of a child being treated were: a child coming from the HF+ComDT area, being 12–36 months old, the family having lived in the area for >20 years, coming from a household with only one under-five child and living ≤3 km from the health facility. It is concluded that socio-demographic factors are of public health relevance and affect treatment coverage in both the HF+ComDT and the HF approaches. The implementation and strengthening of interventions like ComDT that bring treatment closer to households will enable more children to have access to treatment.