Access Barriers to Formal Health Services: Focus on Sleeping Sickness in Teso District, Western Kenya

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate access barriers to formal health services among communities in Teso district, one of the traditionally known human trypanosomiasis (HAT) or sleeping sickness foci in western Kenya. The focus of the study was on the National Sleeping Sickness Referral Hospital (NSSRH) based at Alupe. The study was undertaken between March and June 2010 in four divisions of Teso District, namely, Chakol, Amukura, Amagoro and Ang'urai. Three questions that centred around an establishment of people's knowledge and attitude towards sleeping sickness, treatment procedure and the hospital; the factors that influence health seeking behaviour of the people living in the research site; and whether formal health providers in the study site offered referral advice to potential sleeping sickness patients formed research questions that the study sought to answer. The overall objective of the study was to assess barriers to formal health services offered at the National Sleeping Sickness Referral Hospital. A combination of disease theory and the health belief model guided the study.