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Home treatments alone or mixed with modern treatments for malaria in Finkolo AC, South Mali: reported use, outcomes and changes over 10 years

Home treatments alone or mixed with modern treatments for malaria in Finkolo AC, South Mali: reported use, outcomes and changes over 10 years
Home treatments alone or mixed with modern treatments for malaria in Finkolo AC, South Mali: reported use, outcomes and changes over 10 years
Background: In 2003, a study in Mali showed that 87% of episodes of uncomplicated malaria were first treated at home. We investigated whether treatment-seeking patterns in Mali had changed 10 years later.

Methods: In 2013, we repeated the retrospective treatment-outcome study on 400 children with presumed malaria in the same area.

Results: Most children with reported uncomplicated malaria were still first treated at home (76% [196/258] in 2013 vs 85% in 2003; p=0.006), rather than in modern health centres (20% [52/258] in 2013 vs 12% in 2003; p=0.01). Overall, 58% of children with uncomplicated malaria were treated with herbal medicine alone, a significant increase from 24% 10 years earlier (p<0.001). This was associated with an increase in use of Argemone mexicana decoction from 8% to 26% (p<0.001), with a reported cure or improvement in 100% of cases among those aged >5 years. For severe malaria, first treatment was sought less often from a traditional healer compared with 10 years earlier (4% vs 32%; p<0.001) and more often from a modern health centre (29% vs 17%; p=0.04).

Conclusions: Two trends that emerged are that there is a greater use of modern health facilities for treatment of severe malaria, and a greater use of traditional medicine alone for treatment of uncomplicated malaria.
0035-9203
209-213
Graz, B.
220f101f-86ed-408f-b530-5e9bf9ea1163
Willcox, M.
e2a776d2-dc29-4edd-8c88-33fa791120df
Berthe, D.
9f6ae357-5ee8-4567-8559-29a6632041a9
Ardiet, D.-L.
f2aea324-e814-4896-994f-620229ca8c76
Falquet, J.
904ce2b7-ed55-4517-8392-3450bc1dbdc9
Diallo, D.
a8533d8e-4e90-43cc-8ecc-d0fca286c891
Giani, S.
df587cea-2467-4943-a2bd-d961638af002
Graz, B.
220f101f-86ed-408f-b530-5e9bf9ea1163
Willcox, M.
e2a776d2-dc29-4edd-8c88-33fa791120df
Berthe, D.
9f6ae357-5ee8-4567-8559-29a6632041a9
Ardiet, D.-L.
f2aea324-e814-4896-994f-620229ca8c76
Falquet, J.
904ce2b7-ed55-4517-8392-3450bc1dbdc9
Diallo, D.
a8533d8e-4e90-43cc-8ecc-d0fca286c891
Giani, S.
df587cea-2467-4943-a2bd-d961638af002

Graz, B., Willcox, M., Berthe, D., Ardiet, D.-L., Falquet, J., Diallo, D. and Giani, S. (2015) Home treatments alone or mixed with modern treatments for malaria in Finkolo AC, South Mali: reported use, outcomes and changes over 10 years. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 109 (3), 209-213. (doi:10.1093/trstmh/tru181).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: In 2003, a study in Mali showed that 87% of episodes of uncomplicated malaria were first treated at home. We investigated whether treatment-seeking patterns in Mali had changed 10 years later.

Methods: In 2013, we repeated the retrospective treatment-outcome study on 400 children with presumed malaria in the same area.

Results: Most children with reported uncomplicated malaria were still first treated at home (76% [196/258] in 2013 vs 85% in 2003; p=0.006), rather than in modern health centres (20% [52/258] in 2013 vs 12% in 2003; p=0.01). Overall, 58% of children with uncomplicated malaria were treated with herbal medicine alone, a significant increase from 24% 10 years earlier (p<0.001). This was associated with an increase in use of Argemone mexicana decoction from 8% to 26% (p<0.001), with a reported cure or improvement in 100% of cases among those aged >5 years. For severe malaria, first treatment was sought less often from a traditional healer compared with 10 years earlier (4% vs 32%; p<0.001) and more often from a modern health centre (29% vs 17%; p=0.04).

Conclusions: Two trends that emerged are that there is a greater use of modern health facilities for treatment of severe malaria, and a greater use of traditional medicine alone for treatment of uncomplicated malaria.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 2 October 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 15 January 2015
Organisations: Primary Care & Population Sciences

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Local EPrints ID: 403727
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/403727
ISSN: 0035-9203
PURE UUID: 4c24d285-df5b-48ee-bf9d-5f74b347e5be

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Date deposited: 09 Dec 2016 11:50
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:49

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Contributors

Author: B. Graz
Author: M. Willcox
Author: D. Berthe
Author: D.-L. Ardiet
Author: J. Falquet
Author: D. Diallo
Author: S. Giani

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