Title

Health Seeking Behavior in Northern KwaZulu-Natal

Author(s)

Anne Case Anne Case (Princeton University and Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies)

Alicia Menendez Alicia Menendez (University of Chicago and Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies)

Cally Ardington Cally Ardington (University of Cape Town and Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies)

Abstract

We examine patterns of health seeking behavior prior to death among 1282 individuals who lived in the Umkhanyakude District of Northern KwaZulu-Natal. Information on the health care choices of these individuals, who died between January 2003 and July 2004, was gathered after their deaths from their primary care-givers. We examine choices made concerning public and private medicine, western and traditional medicine, and non-prescribed self-medication. We find that virtually all adults who were ill prior to death sought treatment from a Western medical provider, visiting either a public clinic or a private doctor. In this district, which is predominantly poor, ninety percent of adults who sought treatment from a public clinic also visited a private doctor. Fifty percent also sought treatment from a traditional healer, suggesting that traditional medicine is seen as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, Western care. Better educated people who were ill for less than a month before dying were significantly more likely to visit a private doctor, while those least well educated were more likely to visit a traditional healer. Controlling for length of illness, better educated and wealthier people sought care from a greater range of providers, and spent significantly more on their treatment.

Creation Date

2005-04

Section URL ID

RPDS

Paper Number

case_etal_hsb.pdf

URL

https://rpds.princeton.edu/sites/rpds/files/media/case_etal_hsb.pdf

File Function

Jel

I12

Keyword(s)

Health seeking behavior, demographic surveillance, South Africa

Suppress

false

Series

5