Early Health Care Seeking and Associated Factors Among Patients with Sexually Transmitted Infections in Public Health Facilities of Assosa Zone, Benishangul Gumuz, Western Ethiopia, 2022; Cross sectional study

Abstract

Dawit Misganaw, Seid Wodajo, Ambaye Minayehu

Background: Majority of STIs are curable, but a number of social and behavioral factors prevent from seeking healthcare treatment timely, which increases the burden of untreated infection. Thus, activities people do when they have symptoms or suspect they have STI has a big impact on disease transmission and control. Delays in seeking treatment for STIs after symptom recognition can increase the incidence of disease.

Objective: To assess the magnitude of early health care seeking and associated factors among patients with sexually transmitted infections in public health facilities of Assosa Zone, Ethiopia, 2022.

Method: An institution -based cross-sectional study was employed to collect data from 416 STI patients from May 15 to July 15, 2022. Data were collected using a pretested structured interviewer- administered questionnaire. A system- atic sampling method was used to select study participants. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with early health-seeking.

Result: From total sample patients, 404 (97.12%) were successfully interviewed. From them 40.1% [95%CI (35.4, 44.9%)] of study participants seek health care early within 7 days. secondary educational level [AOR =0.45; 95% CI (0.23,0.90)], had good knowledge about STI [AOR =2.27; 95% CI (1.28,4.02)], perceived the severity of STI [AOR=2.24; 95%CI (1.19,4.21)], those who had fear of stigma for STI [AOR=0.40;95%CI (0.24,0.66)] and had sin- gle sexual partners [AOR=2.19; 95%CI (1.20,3.99)] were significantly associated with early of health care seeking for sexually transmitted infections.

Conclusion: Lower than half of the study participants seek care early within seven days of onset of symptoms. In- depth health education is essential to raise awareness, avoid risky behaviors, and alter negative perceptions

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