Illness perception and use of health services in north-east Argentina

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Abstract
An interview survey on health and health care, conducted in a representative sample of 1456 households of the province of Chaco in north-east Argentina, showed the following results: The ethnic composition showed a predominance of ‘Criollos’ in rural settings and of ‘European’ descendants in urban areas. Ethnic group was shown to be the best socio-economic discriminator, with indigenous people belonging to the lowest group, followed by ‘Criollos’ and with Europeans in the highest socio-economic order. Twenty-five per cent of the population interviewed suffered from some kind of ill health during the 2-week recall period but only 16% of these episodes were classified as being severe. The prevalence, severity and type of illness episodes were influenced by socio-economic factors, as well as by age, occupational, ethnic and residence factors. Higher social classes perceived more illnesses than the lower dasses, but with respect to severe illness there was a higher prevalence of severe diseases in lower classes. On the use of health services, home treatment was the most frequent source of care and self-medication with plants was mainly used by the lower socio-economic groups in rural areas and by higher socio-economic groups in urban areas. Pharmaceutical drugs were more frequently used by both lower and higher socio-economic groups in urban areas. Modern health services were widely used for severe illnesses, particularly in the case of infectious diseases. The use of traditional healers was frequent in the case of ‘folk’ illnesses (such as empacho, susto) and in areas remote from modern services, a poor quality of services and a lack of money. In conclusion, a considerable proportion of the rural population had no adequate access to the health services, which points to the need to develop rural health posts and institute a better and more highly organized health programme for the poor.

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