Determinants of Timely Healthcare-Seeking Behaviour and Knowledge of Childhood Danger Signs in Caregivers of Children Below Five Years Attending Gita Sub-County Hospital, Kisumu, Kenya

Morbidity and mortality in children below five years are still relatively high even after many interventions, especially and low and middle-income countries. Many of the deaths are due to preventable causes. Timely seeking of healthcare from qualified personnel as soon as the child shows signs and symptoms of disease is a game changer, especially to the treatment outcomes. However, this is determined by various factors including the caregiver’s age and knowledge about childhood illnesses, including danger signs. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the determinants of timely healthcare-seeking behaviour and knowledge of danger signs in caregivers of children below five years attending Gita Sub-County Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya. Systematic sampling was used to include 324 caregivers in the study. Using structured pretested interview-guided questionnaires, data was collected, cleaned and analysed using into GraphPad Prism 10.2.0 (392). The mean age of the participants was 28.38 years. Knowledge about childhood danger signs in children by their caregivers was poor (35%). Age (31-40 and 41-50 years at AOR=1.32(95%CI: 0.77-1.87) and AOR=1.29(95%CI: 0.76-1.82) respectively), secondary AOR=1.34(95%CI: 1.14-1.54) and tertiary education AOR=2.07(95%CI: 0.8-3.33)), formal employment AOR=1.62(95%CI: 1.31-1.92) and no source of income AOR=1.75(95%CI: 0.61-2.89) improved caregivers’ knowledge about danger signs in children. Timely healthcare seeking for sick children was low (25%). Age (≤ 20 years AOR=3.89 (95%CI: 2.43-5.34)), marital status (divorced/separated, single and widowed caregivers AOR=2.55(95%CI: 0.91-4.18), AOR=2.46(95%CI: 1.67-3.24) and AOR=2.41(95%CI: 1.92-2.89) respectively), source of income (formally employed and self-employed (AOR=2.9(95%CI: 2.45-3.34) and AOR=2.42(95%CI: 1.89-2.92) were promotors of timely healthcare seeking. Caregivers need to be sensitized about danger signs in their children and the need to seek timely healthcare once their children present with any one of the danger signs