Spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviours of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa
Abstract This study conducted a spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviors of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic across the nine provinces of South Africa. Data were sourced from the National Income Dynamics Study—Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM)...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Discover Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12982-025-00454-4 |
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| author | Nkemdilim P. Anazonwu Emeka E. Igboeli Chukwuedozie K. Ajaero Nneka Okafor Ezinwanne E. Ezeibe Casmir C. Mbaegbu Ijeoma Ogu |
| author_facet | Nkemdilim P. Anazonwu Emeka E. Igboeli Chukwuedozie K. Ajaero Nneka Okafor Ezinwanne E. Ezeibe Casmir C. Mbaegbu Ijeoma Ogu |
| author_sort | Nkemdilim P. Anazonwu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract This study conducted a spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviors of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic across the nine provinces of South Africa. Data were sourced from the National Income Dynamics Study—Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) of 2020/2021 which is a nationally representative panel survey of 7,000 South African individuals in all the nine provinces. The outcome variables were use of health facility and taking of COVID-19 test. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, mapping, analysis of variance, and geographically weighted regression. While 22% of the respondents reported having chronic health conditions, 24% of the respondents visited health facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the analysis of analysis of variance showed significant differences in the occurrence of chronic health conditions (F = 14.67; p = 0.000), testing for COVID-19 (F = 10.64; p = 0.000), and the use of health facilities (F = 16.01; p = 0.000) across the nine provinces of the country. The results of the geographically weighted regression (GWR) also indicated significant spatial variations on the influence of all the independent variables on the use of health facilities and on the proportion of respondents who took COVID-19 test. This study recommends the development and implementation of unique effective approaches related to the location-specific factors that influenced health seeking behaviors of people with chronic health conditions for each of the provinces. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e6cae8c431164488995bc89ba8e79c4b |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 3005-0774 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Springer |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Discover Public Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-e6cae8c431164488995bc89ba8e79c4b2025-08-20T03:13:17ZengSpringerDiscover Public Health3005-07742025-02-0122111610.1186/s12982-025-00454-4Spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviours of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in South AfricaNkemdilim P. Anazonwu0Emeka E. Igboeli1Chukwuedozie K. Ajaero2Nneka Okafor3Ezinwanne E. Ezeibe4Casmir C. Mbaegbu5Ijeoma Ogu6Department of Social Work, University of NigeriaDepartment of Geography, University of Nigeria NsukkaDepartment of Geography, University of Nigeria NsukkaDepartment of Philosophy, University of NigeriaDepartment of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Nigeria NsukkaDepartment of Political Science, University of NigeriaDepartment Pf Sociology and Anthropology, University of Nigeria NsukkaAbstract This study conducted a spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviors of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic across the nine provinces of South Africa. Data were sourced from the National Income Dynamics Study—Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) of 2020/2021 which is a nationally representative panel survey of 7,000 South African individuals in all the nine provinces. The outcome variables were use of health facility and taking of COVID-19 test. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, mapping, analysis of variance, and geographically weighted regression. While 22% of the respondents reported having chronic health conditions, 24% of the respondents visited health facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the analysis of analysis of variance showed significant differences in the occurrence of chronic health conditions (F = 14.67; p = 0.000), testing for COVID-19 (F = 10.64; p = 0.000), and the use of health facilities (F = 16.01; p = 0.000) across the nine provinces of the country. The results of the geographically weighted regression (GWR) also indicated significant spatial variations on the influence of all the independent variables on the use of health facilities and on the proportion of respondents who took COVID-19 test. This study recommends the development and implementation of unique effective approaches related to the location-specific factors that influenced health seeking behaviors of people with chronic health conditions for each of the provinces.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12982-025-00454-4COVID-19Chronic health conditionsHealthcare seeking behaviorsSpatial variationsSouth Africa |
| spellingShingle | Nkemdilim P. Anazonwu Emeka E. Igboeli Chukwuedozie K. Ajaero Nneka Okafor Ezinwanne E. Ezeibe Casmir C. Mbaegbu Ijeoma Ogu Spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviours of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa Discover Public Health COVID-19 Chronic health conditions Healthcare seeking behaviors Spatial variations South Africa |
| title | Spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviours of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa |
| title_full | Spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviours of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviours of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviours of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa |
| title_short | Spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviours of people with chronic health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa |
| title_sort | spatial analysis of the healthcare seeking behaviours of people with chronic health conditions during the covid 19 pandemic in south africa |
| topic | COVID-19 Chronic health conditions Healthcare seeking behaviors Spatial variations South Africa |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12982-025-00454-4 |
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