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01-12-2016 | Original Article

Health-care availability, preference, and distance for women in urban Bo, Sierra Leone

Published in: International Journal of Public Health | Issue 9/2016

Abstract

Objectives

To examine the diversity of the health-care providers in urban Bo, Sierra Leone, identify the types of health-care facilities preferred by women for fevers, and analyze the road network distances from homes to preferred health-care providers.

Methods

A population-based random sampling method was used to recruit 2419 women from Bo. A geographic information system was used to measure the road distance from each woman’s home to her preferred provider.

Results

Preferred health-care providers for acute febrile illnesses (commonly referred to as “malaria” in the study communities) were hospitals (62.3 %), clinics (12.6 %), and pharmacies (12.4 %). Participants lived a median distance of 0.6 km from the nearest provider, but on average each woman lived 2.2 km one-way from her preferred provider. Women living farther from the city center had preferred providers significantly farther from home than women living downtown.

Conclusions

The diverse health-care marketplace in Bo allows women to select clinical facilities from across the city. Most women prefer a malaria care provider farther from home than they could comfortably walk when ill.

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Title: Health-care availability, preference, and distance for women in urban Bo, Sierra Leone
Publication date: 01-12-2016
Published in: International Journal of Public Health / Issue 9/2016
Print ISSN: 1661-8556
Electronic ISSN: 1661-8564
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-016-0815-y

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Springer Medicine

Health-care availability, preference, and distance for women in urban Bo, Sierra Leone

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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