Analysis of care-seeking pathways and factors influencing early and appropriate care-seeking for malaria patients in the Republic of Guinea: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Malaria is a major public health issue in Guinea and care-seeking behaviour is dominated by self-medication and delayed access to appropriate care. However early and appropriate care-seeking are essential to control and reduce complicate forms and mortality, particularly for the most vulnerable. This study was conducted to analyse the diagnostic pathway, and the factors associated with early and appropriate care-seeking for malaria patients in the Republic of Guinea. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out between December 2022 to March 2023 in nine health districts within health facilities and at community level. The study population was confirmed malaria patients with RDT or microscopy. Kroeger's conceptual framework was used to design the questionnaire. Conventional recourse was defined as using a healthcare facility or community services, early and appropriate care-seeking was defined as within 24 h of symptom onset in a conventional recourse, and care pathway as the sequence of recourses followed by each patient. Sankey alluvial plots were used to represent patients' diagnostic pathways, and logistic regression to identify factors associated with early and appropriate care-seeking. RESULTS: A total of 3300 malaria patients were studied, of which 1632 (49.45%) were female and 1132 (34.30%) were under 5 years of age, with a median age of 23 months. At the time of the survey, 1337 (40.52%), 1423 (43.12%), and 437 (13.85%) of patients were respectively in their first, second and third recourse. A total of 2002 (60.67%) patients had sought care from a conventional recourse as a first line. Of all patients, 1757 (53.25%) had sought care within 24 h, while 28.55% had sought early and appropriate care. In the initial stages of treatment, self-medication was the most common approach, used by 1214 (37.30%). Patients from the health districts of Boffa (Lower Guinea, coastal region) OR = 0.48 95% CI 0.33-0.70, Dabola (Upper Guinea, savanna region) OR = 0.43 95% CI 0.30-0.63 and Labe (Middle Guinea, mountain region) OR = 0.63 CI 95% 0.43-0.91 (p < 0.05) were more likely to delay appropriate care-seeking, when compared to those in Dixinn, (Conakry). However, the under 5-year-old group OR = 1.55 95% CI 1.30-1.85 (p < 0.001) and the availability of a stable monthly household income OR = 4.98 95% CI 3.03, 8.27 (p < 0.001) were positively associated with early and appropriate care seeking. CONCLUSION: A low rate of early and appropriate care-seeking was observed. Patients sought care through multiple means, often resulting in a delay in adequate management. The results show the need to deploy strategies adapted to the needs of communities.

Organisational framework and outputs of International medical evacuation in Guinea: A need for change.

The study aims to describe the organizational framework of International Medical Evacuation (IME), the profile of persons evacuated, and the associated cost of IME in Guinea. This was a descriptive study of IME policy in Guinea. We described the politico-structural organization of IME and the profile of patient accessing IME through the Ministry of Health (MOH: 2001-2015) and through the National Social Security Fund (NSSF: 2011-2015). From 1958 to 1992 since the health system was restricted, the country negotiated the free medical treatment with Socialist countries. Since 1992, a medical assistance line was included in the sector budgets, and IME was officially managed by the MOH and with a parallel system existing at the NSSF. With an average cost of US $34 251 per case, cardiovascular diseases (20%), Traumatology/Orthopedic diseases (20%), and Neurologic/neurosurgery diseases (12.5%) have motivated more than half of 2445 IME supported by the MOH between 2001 and 2015. With a diagnostic exploration (38.7%) as main motivation, the majority of the IMEs (80.0%) endorsed by the NSSF (2011-2015) concerned their employees/workers or those of the NSSF's supervisory ministry and their families. Despite a strict regulatory framework, the emergence and sustainability of parallel IME systems in other departments with different procedures than MOH's procedure represent a major weakness/deficiency. The new prospects for the free medical treatment of state employees could eventually lead to an effective correction of this structural failure if efficiently managed.