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Qualitative Health Research
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Where Do They Go, Whom Do They Consult, and Why? Health-Seeking Behaviors in the Northern Areas of Pakistan

Babar T. Shaikh

University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom, and Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan

David Haran

University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Juanita Hatcher

Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan

This study presents an ethnographic account of health-seeking behaviors and determinants of health service utilization of people living in the rural Northern Areas of Pakistan. Data was gathered from 2004 to 2005 through 10 gender-specific focus group discussions. Sociodemographic characteristics, economic conditions, cultural forces, physical and environmental conditions, and health care service features form the behaviors. The complex composition of health care systems drives us to study the most intricate phenomenon of health care-seeking behaviors. Inappropriate or delayed health care-seeking could lead to undesirable health outcomes, high fertility, unwanted pregnancies, medical complications, and amplified susceptibility to future illnesses. At times it results in a significant economic burden when a simple illness becomes drawn out because of improper health-seeking behaviors. This study is an effort to present relevant information to the policy makers to reorient the health care services to make them more acceptable. It is recommended that this research be used for designing behavior change communication modules or social marketing campaigns in raising awareness about health in the community and sensitizing health care providers to the needs of their clients.

Key Words: developing countries • health care systems • health-seeking behaviors • Pakistan • public health • qualitative research

Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 18, No. 6, 747-755 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1049732308317220
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[Abstract] [PDF]