THE Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC) says that about 45 per cent of Jamaicans suffered from the chikungunya virus (CHIKV) during the outbreak in 2014.
A special module fielded on the chikungunya virus outbreak by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) revealed that 45.4 per cent of the respondents reported that they had the illness.
Regional figures were 49.5 per cent in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA), 47.7 per cent in “Other Towns”, and 42.1 per cent in Rural Areas. Of those who reported an illness or injury, 74.3 per cent sought care, with similar figures by region, and an average of 1.3 visits were made to health facilities over the four-week reference period.
Comparison by sex showed that a larger proportion of females (77.7 per cent) than males (68.8 per cent) sought care. The larger proportion of those who sought care used private health facilities exclusively (51.3 per cent), compared with 46.1 per cent who used only public facilities. Some 2.6 per cent used both public and private facilities.
The poorest quintile recorded 70.9 per cent going to public facilities exclusively.
The rate of hospitalisation for those reporting illness or injury was six per cent in public hospitals and 1.8 per cent at private facilities. For Quintile 1 and the 20–29 years age group, the rate of hospitalisation was above the overall average at 10.9 per cent and 12.9 per cent, respectively.
— Balford Henry
