Characteristics of Households - Childinfo.org

Care Seeking and AntibioticTreatment of PneumoniaPneumonia is the leading cause of death in children and theuse of antibiotics in under-5s with suspected pneumonia is akey intervention. A World Fit for Children goal is to reducedeaths due to acute respiratory infections by one-third.Children with suspected pneumonia are those who havehad an illness with a cough accompanied by rapid ordifficult breathing and whose symptoms were NOT dueto a problem in the chest and a blocked nose.The indicators are:• Prevalence of suspected pneumonia• Care seeking for suspected pneumonia• Antibiotic treatment for suspected pneumonia• Knowledge of the danger signs of pneumoniaTable CH.4 presents the prevalence of suspectedpneumonia and, if care was sought outside the home,the site of care. In total, 5 percent of children aged0–59 months were reported to have had symptomsof pneumonia during the two weeks preceding thesurvey. Of these children, 90 percent were taken toan appropriate health care provider. Children withsuspected pneumonia were most often taken to a publichealth care provider — to a primary health care centre(38 percent) or to a government hospital (35 percent).Table CH.4 also presents the use of antibiotics for thetreatment of suspected pneumonia in under-5s by sex,age, region, residence, age, and socioeconomic factors.In Serbia, 82 percent of children under-5 with suspectedpneumonia had received an antibiotic during the twoweeks prior to the survey.Issues related to knowledge of danger signs of pneumoniaare presented in Table CH.5. Obviously, a mothers’knowledge of the danger signs is an important determinantof care-seeking behaviour. Overall, 26 percent of womenknew of the two danger signs of pneumonia — fastand difficult breathing. The most commonly identifiedsymptom for taking a child to a health facility is developinga fever (85 percent). Furthermore, 47 percent of mothersTable CH.4: Care seeking for suspected pneumonia andantibiotic use during suspected pneumonia, Serbia, 2010Percentage of children age 0–59 months with suspected pneumoniain the last two weeks who were taken to a health provider andpercentage of children who were given antibioticsHadsuspectedpneumoniain the lasttwo weeksNumberofchildrenage0–59monthsGovt.hospitalChildren with suspectedPublic sourcesGovt.healthcentreGovt.healthpostOtherpublicSexMale 6.8 1670 33.0 44.4 14.3 .0Female 4.0 1704 37.5 26.7 15.9 1.3RegionBelgrade 4.9 639 (*) (*) (*) (*)Vojvodina 8.1 994 21.1 27.1 30.8 1.1Sumadija andWestern Serbia5.7 905 58.8 30.2 2.9 .0Southern andEastern Serbia2.2 836 (*) (*) (*) (*)AreaUrban 6.3 1810 38.7 37.1 12.6 .8Rural 4.3 1564 27.7 38.9 18.9 .0Age0–11 months 2.4 559 (*) (*) (*) (*)12–23 months 7.6 661 49.2 31.5 7.8 .024–35 months 7.0 748 (23.1) (56.8) (18.7) (0.0)36–47 months 6.3 663 (29.5) (26.6) (17.5) (0.0)48–59 months 3.3 743 (37.6) (34.9) (11.3) (3.8)Mother’s educationPrimary 6.4 480 (37.2) (29.2) (20.8) (3.0)Secondary 5.6 1982 29.6 37.1 15.3 .0Higher 4.6 878 46.7 46.2 9.2 .0Wealth index quintilePoorest 6.7 634 (39.1) (25.8) (18.3) (.0)Second 4.7 658 (26.4) (29.5) (17.4) (.0)Middle 4.3 599 (37.6) (25.0) (30.7) (.0)Fourth 4.1 665 (35.4) (56.7) (8.0) (.0)Richest 6.8 818 34.2 48.1 7.0 1.6Total 5.4 3374 34.7 37.8 14.9 .51MICS indicator 3.92MICS indicator 3.10( ) Figures that are based on 25–49 unweighted cases(*) Figures that are based on less than 25 unweighted cases82MULTIPLE INDICATOR CLUSTER SURVEY 2010