Irum Gilani, Ziyad Afzal Kayani, Arslan Mazhar.
Healthcare seeking for thalassaemia management among children: a descriptive cross sectional study in Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
Pak J Public Health Jan ;1(1):17-20.

Background: A wide range of services is required for treating the thalassaemic children. However, in resource constrained settings of a developing country, it is important to understand the problems faced by thalassaemic children and their families prior to proposing any interventions or strategies for the prevention and control of thalassaemia-related morbidities and mortalities. Methodology: A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out with fifty thalassaemic children (and their families). These frequently transfused children had been registered with the AJK Central Blood Transfusion Service, district Muzaffarabad. Results: Eighty percent of the thalassaemic children belonged to a poor socio-economic quintile. Only 4% of the parents never faced any difficulty in arranging blood for their children and they represent a well-off class. Forty four percent of the thalassaemic children were not using the chelation therapy because their parents could not afford it. Thirty six percent of the families of thalassaemic children never had heard about the thalassaemia screening test. Conclusion: Thalassaemic children need a standard treatment. However, it is a distant dream for the thalassaemic children of Muzaffarabad, AJK. There is no public or private sector facility specifically providing full range of services to treat thalassaemia. The poverty has compounded the sufferings and imperiled the health seeking behaviours of these children. There is an urgent need to appraise the financing and functioning of the health services so as to provide free or subsidized treatment to thalassaemic children for improving their quality of life.

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