Healthcare seeking patterns of families of infants with circumcision-related morbidities from two population-based cohort studies in Ghana

OBJECTIVE This study assessed healthcare seeking patterns of families of infants with circumcision-related morbidities and families of infants with acute illnesses in rural Ghana. DESIGN Two population-based cohort studies. SETTING Brong Ahafo Region of central rural Ghana. PARTICIPANTS A total of 22 955 infants enrolled in a large population-based trial (Neovita trial) from 16 August 2010 to 7 November 2011 and 3141 infants in a circumcision study from 21 May 2012 to 31 December 2012. PRIMARY OUTCOME Care seeking for circumcision-related morbidities and acute illnesses unrelated to circumcision. RESULTS Two hundred and thirty (8.1%) infants from the circumcision study had circumcision-related morbidities and 6265 (27.3%) infants from the Neovita study had acute illnesses unrelated to circumcision. A much lower proportion (35, 15.2%) of families of infants with circumcision-related morbidities sought healthcare compared with families of infants with acute illnesses in the Neovita study (5520, 88.1%). More families sought care from formal providers (24, 69%) compared with informal providers (11, 31%) for circumcision-related morbidities. There were no obvious determinants of care seeking for acute illnesses or circumcision-related morbidities in the population. CONCLUSIONS Government and non-government organisations need to improve awareness about the complications and care seeking needed for circumcision-related morbidities.