Treatment Seeking and Ebola Community Care Centers in Sierra Leone: A Qualitative Study.
J Health Commun
; 22(sup1): 66-71, 2017.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28854139
ABSTRACT
Ebola Treatment Units were able to provide only 60% of necessary treatment beds in Sierra Leone. As a result, the Government of Sierra Leone decided to construct Community Care Centers. These were intended to increase treatment-seeking behavior and reduce the community-level spread of Ebola by facilitating access to care closer to communities. Through qualitative data collection in 3 districts, this study seeks to understand the perceived impact that proximity to such Centers had on treatment-seeking behavior. Feedback from community members and Community Health Volunteers indicates that proximity to treatment reduced fears, especially those arising from the use of ambulances, lack of familiarity with medical Centers, and loss of contact with family members taken for treatment. Participants report that having a Center close to their home enables them to walk to treatment and witness survivors being discharged. Living close to Centers also enables communities to be involved in their design and daily operation, helping to build trust in them as acceptable treatment facilities. Further research is required to understand the appropriate design, operation, and epidemiological impact of Centers. Further investigation should incorporate the effect of an outbreak's severity and the stage (duration) of the outbreak on potential acceptance of Centers.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
/
Residence Characteristics
/
Disease Outbreaks
/
Community Health Centers
/
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola
/
Health Services Accessibility
Type of study:
Qualitative_research
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
En
Journal:
J Health Commun
Journal subject:
SAUDE PUBLICA
/
SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Year:
2017
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United kingdom