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Seeking treatment for uncomplicated malaria: experiences from the Kintampo districts of Ghana

Overview of attention for article published in Malaria Journal, February 2016
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174 Mendeley
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Title
Seeking treatment for uncomplicated malaria: experiences from the Kintampo districts of Ghana
Published in
Malaria Journal, February 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12936-016-1151-7
Pubmed ID
Authors

Lawrence G. Febir, Kwaku Poku Asante, Samuel Afari-Asiedu, Livesy N. Abokyi, Anthony Kwarteng, Bernhards Ogutu, Margaret Gyapong, Seth Owusu-Agyei

Abstract

Malaria accounts for many deaths and illnesses, mostly among young children and pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa. An integrated approach is recommended to ensure effective malaria control. Socio-cultural factors continue to serve as determinants of malaria health-seeking behaviour. An INDEPTH effectiveness and safety study platform was established to unearth issues around the use of licensed and nationally recommended anti-malarials in real life settings. This study reports on treatment-seeking behaviour for uncomplicated malaria among community members. A qualitative study was conducted in the dry and rainy seasons in purposively selected communities in Kintampo north and south districts. This was based on distances to a health facility, ethnicity and availability of medicines at the sale outlets. Twenty-four focus group discussions were conducted among adult men, women care-takers of children less than 5 years and pregnant women. Ten INDEPTH interviews were also conducted among operators of medicine sale outlets and managers of health facilities. Fifty-one illnesses narrative interviews were conducted among adult men, women, women caretakers of children less than 5 years and pregnant women. Transcripts were transferred into Nvivo 8 software for data management and analysis. The artemisinin-based combinations that were commonly known and used were artesunate-amodiaquine and artemether-lumefantrine. Use of herbal preparation to treat diseases including uncomplicated malaria is rife in the communities. Drug stores were not the main source of artemisinin-based combination sales at time of the study. Monotherapies, pain killers and other medicines were purchased from these shops for malaria treatment. Dizziness, general body weakness and sleepiness were noted among respondents who used artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) in the past. There is no clear cut trajectory for management of uncomplicated malaria in the study area. Different approaches are adopted when treating malaria. There is need for community education to influence behaviour on the management of malaria to achieve real gains from ACT use.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 3 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 174 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Spain 1 <1%
Ghana 1 <1%
Unknown 172 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 33 19%
Student > Bachelor 24 14%
Researcher 23 13%
Student > Ph. D. Student 15 9%
Student > Postgraduate 10 6%
Other 29 17%
Unknown 40 23%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 36 21%
Nursing and Health Professions 28 16%
Social Sciences 16 9%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 8 5%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 7 4%
Other 30 17%
Unknown 49 28%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 02 January 2017.
All research outputs
#14,251,396
of 22,851,489 outputs
Outputs from Malaria Journal
#3,969
of 5,573 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#156,341
of 297,882 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Malaria Journal
#112
of 179 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,851,489 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 35th percentile – i.e., 35% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,573 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.8. This one is in the 24th percentile – i.e., 24% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 297,882 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 44th percentile – i.e., 44% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 179 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 30th percentile – i.e., 30% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.