What is it about?
Malaria is one of the leading causes of illness and death among children under five years of age in Nigeria. Prompt treatment is essential for preventing severe illness and death, yet many caregivers delay seeking appropriate healthcare or first use home remedies, traditional medicine, or drug vendors. While financial and healthcare system barriers have been widely studied, less is known about how the family environment influences caregivers' decisions to seek treatment. This study examined whether family functioning and family support are associated with caregivers' treatment-seeking behaviour for under-five children with uncomplicated malaria attending a tertiary hospital in southwestern Nigeria. Understanding these family-related factors can help inform interventions that encourage timely healthcare seeking and improve malaria outcomes among young children.
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Why is it important?
Early diagnosis and treatment are essential for reducing illness and deaths from childhood malaria. Many efforts to improve prompt treatment have focused on increasing access to healthcare and reducing financial barriers, but the influence of the family environment has received much less attention. Our findings show that caregivers from supportive and well-functioning families are more likely to seek appropriate treatment promptly for children with malaria. This highlights the need for malaria control programmes and child health interventions to adopt a more family-centred approach. Strengthening family support, improving communication within families, and incorporating family-focused health education into routine care may help promote timely treatment-seeking and improve health outcomes for children living in malaria-endemic communities.
Perspectives
As a team consisting of family physicians and paediatrician in Nigeria, we have seen how delays in seeking appropriate malaria treatment can worsen outcomes in young children. This study was driven by our interest in understanding how the family environment influences caregivers' treatment decisions. We hope the findings encourage more family-centred approaches to malaria control and child health programmes, helping to promote earlier treatment and improve outcomes for children in malaria-endemic communities.
Abdulakeem Ahmed
Federal University of Health Sciences Ila-Orangun, Osun State Nigeria
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Pattern of family dynamics and treatment-seeking behaviour of caregivers of under-five children with uncomplicated malaria in a tertiary hospital in Ilesa, southwestern Nigeria, PLOS One, July 2026, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0354019.
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