Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Reprod. Health
Sec. HIV and STIs
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frph.2024.1348262

Delay in Health Care Seeking and Associated Factors Among Patients Presented with Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) symptoms in Horo Guduru Wallaga Zone, Oromia, Western Ethiopia, 2022

Provisionally accepted
Getachew A. Guddu Getachew A. Guddu 1Ayantu Getahun Ayantu Getahun 2Girma Yadesa Girma Yadesa 3Tadesse Tolossa Tadesse Tolossa 2*
  • 1 Shambu Hospital, Shambu, Ethiopia
  • 2 Wollega University, Nekemte, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
  • 3 Dire Dawa University, Dire Dawa, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are the most prevalent communicable diseases that impact people's health and well-being. One of the main obstacles to successful STI prevention and control is the delay in seeking healthcare, which can result in significant personal and economic losses. However, there were limited studies on the delay in healthcare seeking among STI patients in resource limited countries such as Ethiopia.Objective: To assess delay in health care seeking and associated factors among patients presenting with STIs to public health facilities in Horo Guduru Wallaga Zone, Oromia,Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at public health facilities in Horo Guduru Wallaga Zone from March 15 to May 15, 2022. The study included 507 participants and used a consecutive sampling method. The outcome variable of the study was delay in health care seeking of STI patients. A binary logistic regression model was used to identify candidate variables with a p-value less than 0.25 after analyzing each variable separately.Finally, a multivariable analysis was performed to determine statistically significant variables at a p-value less than 0.05 and an adjusted odds ratio was reported.The proportion of individuals with STIs who delayed seeking healthcare in Horo Guduru Wallaga Zone was 61.3% (95%CI: 57%, 65.5%). Factors such as age >35 years (AOR = 2.23, 95% CI: 1.26, 3.95), higher educational level (AOR = 2.72, 95% CI: 1.55, 4.74), lack of condom (AOR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.55), and travel time to health facilities > 1 hour (AOR = 4.30, 95% CI: 1.70, 10.89) were found to be significantly associated with delayed health care seeking.This study found that the magnitude of delay in seeking healthcare was higher than the national average, and identified several factors that may contribute to the delay. Interventions such as developing educational programs and improving access to healthcare services are crucial for supporting patients with STIs.Enhancing healthcare accessibility in rural areas and promoting condom use through targeted community outreach can reduce travel time and prevent delays in seeking healthcare for STIs.

    Keywords: Delay, Health care-seeking, sexually transmitted infections, Horo Guduru Wallaga Zone, STIs

    Received: 02 Dec 2023; Accepted: 18 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guddu, Getahun, Yadesa and Tolossa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tadesse Tolossa, Wollega University, Nekemte, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.