THE USE OF INJECTIONS FOR TREATING CHILDHOOD DISEASES - DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCES FOR PREVENTIVE HEALTH-CARE IN DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES

This paper examines the extent of injection use among children as well as the factors that influence the use of injections for treating chil dhood diseases in four sub-Saharan African countries. Employing the An dersen Behavioral framework of predisposing, enabling and need factors , data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) were examined. Ab out 30 percent of children with fever, and about 20 percent of childre n with respiratory problems were treated with injections. Multivariate analyses showed that the effects of the predisposing and enabling cha racteristics upon use of injections were consistently higher than thos e of the need component, suggesting the existence of great inequities in the health care system. Implications for preventive health care are examined.