Rural-Urban Disparities and Factors Associated with Delayed Care Seeking for Fever by Mothers of Under-Five Children, Lgabi LGA, Kaduna Nigeria.

Abstract Background Fever in under-five children (U5) is the commonest presenting complaint in general practice and mothers’ recognition is an entry point for fever treatment including malaria. This study describes rural - urban disparity in fever prevalence, mothers’ malaria knowledge, and care seeking for fever in U5 and the associated factors. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 630 mother-child pairs [rural (300) and urban (330)] selected randomly using a multi-stage sampling from 63 villages in Igabi LGA, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Trained female data collectors administered a pre-tested structured questionnaire to collect information on mother-child demographic profiles, malaria knowledge, fever episodes in birth order last child in two weeks prior to survey, and care - seeking for fever within 48 hours of onset. Care sought for fever > 48 hours of onset was defined as delayed care seeking. Malaria knowledge was categorized into good, average and poor if the final scores is ≥ 75 th , 50 th - 74 th , and < 50 th percentiles, respectively. Frequency, proportions, and odds ratio were calculated. Statistically significant was set at p-value < 0.05. Results The median age (interquartile range) of rural mothers was 30 (IQR, 10) years compared to 27 (IQR, 6) years in urban. Of the 70.0% (441/629) U5 children with fever, 58.5% (258/441) were in rural settlements. A third of the mothers whose child had fever sought care. Mothers in rural settlement were 2.7 (CI: 1.8 – 4.2, p < 0.01) times more likely to delay care seeking for fever, and those with no knowledge of malaria transmission were 70% less likely to seek care (OR: 0.3, CI: 0.2 – 0.7). On the other hand, poor perception of malaria as a major health problem (OR: 2.1, CI: 1.4 – 3.1), and poor knowledge of cause of malaria (OR: 1.7, CI: 1.1 – 2.5) were associated with delayed seeking for fever among urban mothers. Conclusions Disparity existed between fever prevalence in U5 children, care -seeking practices by their mothers, and factors associated with delayed care seeking for fever. Fever treatment for high impact malaria elimination needs a context specific intervention rather than ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Also, intensify efforts to educate mothers on malaria.