Use of health care services in two rural communities in Tanzania

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the pattern of utilization of medical and dental health care services in rural Tanzania. Two hundred adults, 91 men and 109 women aged 20 or over, were interviewed. Nearly all subjects reported using modern dental and medical health care services. Home remedy was the only indigenous method of treatment used for dental problems while for medical problems a traditional healer was the most commonly used indigenous alternative. The use of both indigenous and modern health care services was significantly lower for dental than for medical problems (P < 0.05). It seems that the pattern of utilization of health care services differs for medical and dental problems. This should be taken into account when planning comprehensive health care services for rural African societies.

PIP: In September 1988 a dentist interviewed 91 men and 109 women aged 20 years and older living in 2 villages in Ilala, Tanzania, to study their pattern of utilization of dental and medical care services. Most adults had used modern dental and medical care services. Most adults had used modern dental and medical care services (96% and 98%, respectively). 84% of adults who used modern dental care services used a dentist, 23% a medical practitioner, and 1% a pharmacy. The only traditional method of treating dental problems was home remedy, which was used by men more often than women (30% vs. 18%; p .05). Use of analgesics likely was included among the home remedies. Adults probably did not use traditional healers for dental problems because they cannot alleviate the acute episodic dental pain. Dentists at hospitals using local anesthesia tend to do tooth extraction, the most common dental treatment in Tanzania. Adults were more likely to use both modern and traditional medical care services for medical problems than dental problems (p .05). They tended to use a traditional healer more often for medical problems than home remedies (61% vs. 34%; p .05). The farther people lived from the nearest modern medical health care unit, the greater the likelihood that they used traditional medical care services (92% for those living = or 5 km away vs. 61% for 5 km; p .05). Older adults were more likely to use both traditional dental and medical services (odds ratio [OR] = 3.85 and 2.65, respectively). Men tended to use traditional dental services more often than did women (OR = 3.93). These findings show that village-level modern dental health care has not been accorded a high priority. Existing medical staff at village-level health dispensaries should take on the responsibility for dental health.