Public awareness, knowledge of availability, and willingness to use neurosurgical care services in Sub-Saharan Africa: A cross-sectional study.

Autor: Ikwuegbuenyi CA; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Umutoni A; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Atabe Ngwene NN; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Ngoma P; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Nyalundja AD; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Nteranya DS; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Olobatoke TA; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Ogunfolaji O; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Sichimba D; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Najjuma J; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Sebopelo LA; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Ndajiwo A; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Bamimore MA; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Adegboyega G; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon., Kanmounye US; Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2022 Mar 17; Vol. 17 (3), pp. e0264955. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Mar 17 (Print Publication: 2022).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264955
Abstrakt: Introduction: Low- and middle-income countries bear the majority of neurosurgical disease burden and patients face significant barriers to seeking, reaching, and receiving care. We aimed to understand barriers to seeking care among adult Africans by evaluating the public perception, knowledge of availability, and readiness to use neurosurgical care services.
Methods: An e-survey was distributed among African adults who are not in the health sector or pursuing a health-related degree. Chi-square test and ANOVA were used for bivariate analysis and the alpha value was set at 0.05. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated.
Results: Six hundred and sixty-two adults from 16 African countries aged 25.4 (95% CI: 25.0, 25.9) responded. The majority lived in urban settings (90.6%) and were English-speaking (76.4%) men (54.8%). Most respondents (76.3%) could define neurosurgery adequately. The most popular neurosurgical diseases were traumatic brain injury (76.3%), congenital brain and spine diseases (67.7%), and stroke (60.4%). Unwillingness to use or recommend in-country neurosurgical services was associated with rural dwelling (β = -0.69, SE = 0.31, P = 0.03), lack of awareness about the availability of neurosurgeons in-country (β = 1.02, SE = 0.20, P<0.001), and believing neurosurgery is expensive (β = -1.49, SE = 0.36, P<0.001).
Conclusion: Knowledge levels about neurosurgery are satisfactory; however, healthcare-seeking is negatively impacted by multiple factors.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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