Self-reported delays in care-seeking in West Africa during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

Conboy, Natalie E.; Nickow, Andre; Awoonor-Williams, John Koku; Hirschhorn, Lisa R.

doi:10.1186/s12913-023-09812-x

BMC Health Services Research

Table 2 Bivariate analyses, by country, of sociodemographic information, COVID-19 perceptions, food insecurity, and self-reported delays in care-seeking using chi-square tests

From: Self-reported delays in care-seeking in West Africa during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

	*Burkina Faso*^a			*Ghana*^a			*Sierra Leone*^a
	%	Delay (%)	p value	%	Delay (%)	p value	%	Delay (%)	p value
Total		9.9			10.6			5.7
Age			0.16			0.04*			0.56
18–30	58.4	8.3		60.4	8.9		52.5	4.9
31–40	24.4	13.1		24.2	14.2		31.1	7.2
41 +	17.2	10.4		15.4	11.4		16.3	5.3
Male/Female			0.002**			0.55			1.00
Male	42.4	6.7		45.9	10.0		45.5	5.7
Female	57.6	12.2		54.1	11.0		54.5	5.7
Location			0.94			0.04*			0.62
Urban	60.5	9.8		22.9	11.3		83.7	5.9
Non-Urban	39.5	10.0		77.1	7.9		16.3	4.5
Highest level of education completed			0.82			0.07			0.28
Less than secondary	34.5	9.2		35.3	10.5		40.8	5.9
Secondary or vocational	27.0	10.9		35.6	8.3		34.4	4.2
Post-secondary	38.4	9.7		29.1	13.4		22.5	8.1
Other							2.3	0.0
Days in the past week staying at home all day, without going out at all and without receiving any visits			0.81			0.29			0.64
Never (0)	35.0	8.8		21.4	9.2		28.4	5.5
Once (1)	9.1	12.5		7.5	8.5		12.7	3.6
Some days (2–3)	18.4	9.4		15.2	7.6		18.4	4.4
Most days (4–6)	12.7	8.7		24.0	11.6		18.3	6.6
Every day (7)	24.8	8.8		31.9	12.8		22.1	7.5
Feels that they or anyone in the household is at risk of contracting COVID-19			0.15			0.004**			0.04*
No	64.0	8.9		74.0	8.8		81.9	4.9
Yes	36.0	12.2		26.0	15.0		18.1	9.3
Perception of the government’s reaction to COVID-19 outbreak			0.24			0.08			0.06
Much too extreme	7.2	12.8		3.2	11.6		3.2	16.1
Somewhat too extreme	8.5	16.7		2.6	4.6		11.0	6.0
Appropriate	64.6	8.5		69.3	10.4		77.0	5.5
Somewhat insufficient	10.5	10.1		8.5	17.3		7.2	3.7
Not sufficient	9.2	10.6		16.4	8.3		1.7	1.8
Amount of pay earned in the past week^b			0.43			0.55			0.13
More or the same income	63.7	10.2		27.9	11.7		18.3	3.4
Less or no income	36.3	12.7		72.2	10.2		81.7	6.5
Days in the past week where they had to limit portion size at meal-times		x̄ = 0.97 (SE = 0.07)	0.002**		x̄ = 2.20 (SE = 0.08)	0.07		x̄ = 2.38 (SE = 0.11)	0.04*
No	75.6	8.0		56.8	9.1		54.5	4.0
Yes	24.5	15.6		43.2	12.5		45.5	7.7
Days in the past week where they had to reduce the number of meals eaten in a day		x̄ = 0.94 (SE = 0.06)	0.002**		x̄ = 2.43 (SE = 0.09)	0.11		x̄ = 2.43 (SE = 0.12)	0.20
No	74.7	8.0		53.5	9.2		55.6	4.6
Yes	25.3	15.4		46.5	12.1		44.5	7.0
Days in the past week where they were unable to buy food due to drop in household income			0.003**			0.001**			0.28
No	52.4	6.9		41.0	7.3		28.9	4.3
Yes	47.6	13.1		59.0	13.0		71.1	6.5
Food insecurity^c			0.0007**			0.007**			0.08
No	46.1	6.1		29.0	7.0		21.8	3.2
Yes	54.0	13.1		71.1	12.0		78.2	6.4

^*p < 0.05
^**p < 0.01
^aPercentages adjusted by survey weights as previously described. For absolute numbers, see Appendix B
^bCompared to a week in mid-March
^cSmaller portions, reducing number of meals, or unable to buy food

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