Care Seeking for Common Childhood Illnesses in the Context of Integrated Community Case Management Scale-Up in Rural Ethiopia

Abstract

Diarrhea, Malaria and Pneumonia are the major causes of under-five mortality (U5M) in sub-Saharan Africa. These illnesses can be prevented with provision of child health interventions delivered at the community level. Ethiopia is currently scaling up integrated community case management (iCCM) of common childhood illnesses through health extension workers (HEWs) in rural community health posts to improve access to evidence-based treatments. However, utilization of HEWs at the health post for child illness has been found to be very low. Little is known about reasons for low utilization of HEWs and care seeking behaviors for this population.