Table 2.
Symptoms and their associated health seeking behaviour for adults in Malawi in 2016
| Symptoms (n = 1907) |
Number of persons for each illnessa n (%) |
Number of persons who sought health care for each illnessb n (%) |
| Fever | 740 (39.4) | 443 (57.5) |
| Vomiting | 49 (2.1) | 20 (38.8) |
| Stomach ache | 169 (8.6) | 69 (39.2) |
| Sore throat | 89 (4.5) | 35 (41.1) |
| Respiratory tract |
278 (14.3) | 109 (36.6) |
| Headache | 268 (14.0) | 79 (27.5) |
| Skin | 28 (1.6) | 13 (51.7) |
| Dental problem | 42 (2.3) | 21 (42.7) |
| Backache | 58 (3.1) | 23 (38.7) |
| Injury | 84 (4.5) | 40 (42.2) |
| Eye | 18 (0.8) | 14 (83.7) |
| Otherc | 110 (5.7) | 67 (57.8) |
a
Denominator is adults with symptoms.
b
Numerator for ‘number of adults that sought health care at health facility’.
c
Fainting, pain when passing urine, mental disorder, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, unspecified long-term illnesses and other illnesses.