Abstract:
Background: Delayed health care seeking is one of the major impediments to successfully
prevent and control sexually transmitted infections. Delay in health care seeking prolongs the
period of infectiousness and thereby increases the incidence of the infection of sexually
transmitted infections. Majority of sexually transmitted infections are curable, but a number of
social and behavioral factors hinder peoples from early health care seeking.
Objective: To identify determinants of delay in health care seeking among patients with sexually
transmitted infection at governmental Hospitals in Harari region, Eastern Ethiopia.
Methods: In this study, facility based unmatched case control study was conducted. A total of
197 cases and 197 controls study participants were selected by systematic random sampling
technique from patients with sexually transmitted infection. Data was collected through face-to face interview by using pre tested structured questionnaire. Collected data was entered using Epi Data version 4.6 and then exported to SPSS 26.0 for analysis. Bivariable analysis was done to
select candidate variables for multivariable analysis at P-value less than 0.25. Finally,
multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify determinants of delay in
health care seeking on the basis of AOR, with 95%CI and p-value less than 0.05. Model fitness
was checked by Hosmer and Lemeshow test and multicollinearity was checked with variance
inflation factor.
Results: - The current study identified that, large Family size (AOR=0.2; 95%CI:0.14 - 0.73),
unmarried marital status(AOR =2.6; 95%CI: 1.02-18.24), poor knowledge(AOR=3.26; 95%CI:
1.06 - 9.97), fear of social stigma (AOR =4.75; 95% CI:1.4 – 9.97), having single sexual partner
(AOR =0.31; 95%CI: 0.10- 0.95) and non-enrolled in CBHI (AOR=2.31; 95%CI:1.11 -9.45)
were found to be determinants of delay in health care seeking
Conclusion and Recommendation: - This study revealed that having large family size,
unmarried marital status, poor knowledge, fear of social stigma, number of sexual partners, and
non-enrolled in community-based health insurance were determinants of delay in health care
seeking of patients with Sexualy transmitted infection. It was recommended that health education
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and awarness creation should be done for STI patients and encouraging the STI patients to be
amember of community-based health insurance.
