Abstract:
A cross-sectional, community based health survey was
conducted in an urban population of Dar es Salaam between
April and May, 1995. The aim of this study was to
determine the level of sel f -perceived morbidity (acute or
chronic ill-health conditions and disabilities) among the
general population.
A total of 4126 adults aged fifteen years and more were
interviewed using a questionnaire that had been developed
for this purpose. Detailed household level information was
collected on demography, morbidity and hospital utilization
patterns.
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Results showed that the total overall prevalence of self-
perceived acute, chronic ill-health conditions and
disabilities were 33.5% (1384/4126), 38.5% (1588/4126) and
26.8% (1107/4126) respectively. Approximately (60.2%) of
the household members who had developed ill-health during
the two weeks before the interview sought health care from
modern medical services.However, of those interviewed 1.3 %
consulted traditional healers, 24.7% performed self
treatment, 0.6% consul ted 'primary heal th care workers and
13.2% did not consult any health care services.
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Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that age, sex,
level of education, marital status and household size were
significantly associated with self-perceived morbidity.
It was therefore concluded that self-perceived morbidity
prevailing among adults in Dar es Salaam during the time of
this study was significantly high.
It is recommended that the findings of this study should be
used to design a follow-up study to determine true diagnoses
of those who perceived themselves as having ill-health
conditions/diseases for validation.
This study determined the level of self perceived morbidity
in an urban area of Dar es Salaam.In order to obtain a more
meaningful and comparable data on self-perceived ill-health
it is recommended that a similar study be carried out in the
other urban and rural areas of this country. It is also
recommended that during allocation of resources Policy Makers
or Health Planners should take into consideration the fact
that self-perceived morbidity is very high among adults in
the general population and should cater for their health
needs accordingly .
