Tropical Doctor > Volume 38, Number 3 > Pp. 150-152

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Traditional medicine, delays and hospital mortality of children under five years of age in the rural district of Kigoma, western Tanzania: an observational hospital-based study

Christoph H Blanke MD DTMH   ^*    Godson B Naisabha ^*   Christine R Lange MD   ^* 

^* Matyazo Health Centre, Diocese of Western Tanganyika, PO Box 1054, Kigoma, Tanzania; Universitätsklinikum Benjamin Franklin, Freie Universität Berlin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12200 Berlin, Germany

Correspondence to: C H Blanke, Medizinische Klinik II, St-Marienkrankenhaus Siegen, D-57069 Siegen, Germany Email: christophblanke{at}yahoo.com

The use of traditional medicine in the treatment of 596 children aged 0–60 months before admission was common (41.4 %). Children were more likely to die if they had first been treated with traditional medicine (50/244; 20.5% vs 29/342; 8.5%) or were younger (median 9 vs 12 months old.) Children who had received traditional medicine were younger (median 11 vs. 13 months), came later for hospital treatment (median three vs. five days), had a longer journey on foot to reach the health centre (3.4 vs. 2.9 h), and died from common diseases and not from an obvious toxic syndrome.

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