Childhood morbidity and treatment pattern at the multipurpose health centre, Ilesa, Nigeria

This is a descriptive case series study that attempt to identify the common presenting complaints why children are brought to the Multipurpose Primary Health Centre (MPHC) at Ilesa and also to examine the treatment pattern of the common illnesses from birth to the first five years of life, from October 2000 to March 2001.

Information was collected by reviewing the case records of all under five children who presented for treatment at the MPHC, Ilesa from October 2000 to March 2001 using a spreadsheet. The age, sex and presenting complaint as reported by their mothers were extracted from the records. The treatment given as recorded by the attending physician was also recorded.

The findings of the study reveals that for every 20 outpatient visits to the centre, 11 were children under five years. The male to female ratio was 1:1. Overall, fever, cough and diarrhoea were the commonest presenting complaint (77.2% of all presenting complaints) with fever taking the highest percentage (48.8% of all presenting complaints) except for children under 6 months where majority present with cough (31.6% of the presenting complaint of that age group). The disease conditions most commonly treated by the physicians at the centre were malaria, acute respiratory tract infection and diarrhoea. The drugs commonly used are chloroquine, cotrimoxazole, and oral rehydration therapy.

This study has shown that the major burdens of diseases in children under 5 years of age are preventable and are amenable to cost-effective and simple treatment.