Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jul 31;25(1):1011.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-025-13173-y.

Morbidity and health seeking behavior among children and adolescents (0-19 years): a household survey assessment in Northwestern Tanzania

Sophia Kagoye  1   2 , Jim Todd  3   4 , Milly Marston  4 , Mark Urassa  5 , Eveline T Konje  3 , Ties Boerma  6
Affiliations

Morbidity and health seeking behavior among children and adolescents (0-19 years): a household survey assessment in Northwestern Tanzania

Sophia Kagoye et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: Information on morbidity and health-seeking behavior beyond early childhood is crucial for planning evidence-based interventions. Currently, data is limited to children under five. This study introduces a method for estimating morbidity and health-seeking behavior in older children and adolescents (5-19 years) using women's birth histories from a household survey in northwestern Tanzania, comparing it with data on children under five.

Methods: We conducted a household survey among women 15-49 years as part of the Magu Health and Demographic Surveillance from October 2020 to November 2021, including 16,896 children aged 0-19 living with their mothers. The study outcomes were the prevalence of reported illness in the last four weeks and health-seeking behavior, defined as visiting a health facility for recent illness. Modified Poisson regression analysis was performed, accounting for mothers as clusters and adjusting for child and mother characteristics. We compared the prevalence of recent illness and health-seeking behavior among older children and adolescents (5-19 years) with children under five within the same population.

Results: Morbidity presented as the prevalence of any illness decreased with age, from 26.1% in children under-five to 10.4% among adolescents aged 15-19. Health seeking behavior also decreased with age, from 48.2% in children under-five to nearly 30% among adolescents aged 15-19. Types of illnesses reported were similar across age groups, with Fever/Malaria accounting more than two-thirds, followed by respiratory tract illnesses. Higher illness prevalence was noted in rural areas for both age groups. Health seeking behavior was higher among mothers with secondary education and above for both children under-fives (APR:1.22;95% CI: 1.02, 1.47) and 5-19-year-olds (APR: 1.31; 95% CI:1.01, 1.70). Additionally, those with health insurance also reported higher health seeking behavior (APR: 1.38; 95% CI:1.07, 1.78), while lower for children in rural households (APR: 0.72; 95% CI:0.61, 0.83), for 5-19-year-olds.

Conclusions: Our findings on morbidity and health-seeking behavior demonstrate the importance of extending health monitoring beyond early childhood. The inequalities identified point to gaps in programming and health service delivery that require attention.

Keywords: 5–19; Birth history; Health seeking behavior; Morbidity; Recent illness; Treatment seeking.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was conducted in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Participants. Ethical clearance for this study was obtained from the Tanzania Medical Research Coordinating Committee with ethical clearance number NIMR/HQ/R.8c/Vol I/1496, where the principal investigator is based. Also, from the internal review board of the University of Manitoba, Canada with ethical clearance number: H2018:132 (HS21681) and from Catholic University of Health of Health and Allied Sciences Bugando Research and Ethical Committee (CREC) with ethical clearance number CREC/580/2022. Permission to conduct the study was obtained from all local authorities. Prior to the interview, written informed consent was obtained from all participants, and for children under the age of 18, consent was also obtained from their parents or guardian. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Prevalence of any illness in the last 4 weeks and health seeking behavior by age-groups
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Types of illness reported in the past 4 weeks by age groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). Levels & Trends in Child Mortality. 2023.
    1. Liu L, Villavicencio F, Yeung D, Perin J, Lopez G, Strong KL, et al. National, regional, and global causes of mortality in 5–19-year-olds from 2000 to 2019: a systematic analysis. Lancet Glob Health. 2022;10(3):e337–47. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Villavicencio F, Perin J, Eilerts-Spinelli H, Yeung D, Prieto-Merino D, Hug L, et al. Global, regional, and National causes of death in children and adolescents younger than 20 years: an open data portal with estimates for 2000–21. The Lancet Global Health. Volume 12. Elsevier Ltd; 2024. pp. e16–7. - PubMed
    1. Kagoye S, Marston M, Abha Y, Konje ET, Urassa M, Todd J, et al. Causes of death among older children and adolescents (5–19 years) in the Magu health and demographic surveillance study, Tanzania, 1995–2022. Glob Health Action. 2024;17(1):2425470. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ministry of Health (MoH). [Tanzania Mainland], Ministry of Health (MoH) [Zanzibar], National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Office of the Chief Government Statistician (OCGS), ICF. Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey and Malaria Indicator Survey 2022 Final Report. Dodoma, Tanzania and Rockville, Maryland USA; 2022.

LinkOut - more resources