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Objective:To compare perceived ill-health and health seeking behavior between two communities affected by the large Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric project in central Lao People’s Democratic Republic(PDR).Methods: Two different affected areas;Nakai plateaubeing remote,sparcely populated and mountainous,and Xe Bang Fai lowland plains,more densely populated and comparatively affluent were included.Data were obtained from two cross-sectional household-based health and socio-economic surveys.Results:We found pronounced differences in the frequency of self-reported fever,cough,headache and myalgia according to location.On the Nakai plateau,45.1%of the individuals with ill-health report(recall period;2 weeks) went to a local health volunteer compared to only 7.2%in the Xe Bang Fai area(P < 0.001 ).In Nakai,there were disproportionately more illiterates seeking help from local health volunteers when compared to those who attended at least primary schooling(49.2%versus 17.5%,P <0.01 ).Self-medication with antimalarials was more common in Xe Bang Fai than on Nakai(32.3%versus 7.0%,P < 0.001).The mean amount of money spent per health consultation was US $ 1.7 in Nakai and US $ 7.2 in Xe Bang Fai.Conclusion:The observed differences in self-reported ill-health and health seeking behavior among these two Lao communities need to be considered when implementing setting-specific mitigation measures as part of the public health action plan of the Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric project.
Objective: To compare perceived ill-health and health seeking behavior between two communities affected by the large Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric project in central Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR). Methods: Two different affected areas; Nakai plateaubeing remote, sparcely populated and mountainous, and Xe Bang Fai lowland plains, more densely populated and comparatively affluent were included. Data were obtained from two cross-sectional household-based health and socio-economic surveys. Results: We found pronounced differences in the frequency of self-reported fever, cough , the headache and myalgia according to location. On the Nakai plateau, 45.1% of the individuals with ill-health report (recall period; 2 weeks) went to a local health volunteer compared to only 7.2% in the Xe Bang Fai area (P < 0.001) .In Nakai, there were disproportionately more illiterates seeking help from local health volunteers when compared to those who attended at least primary schooling (49.2% versus 17.5%, P <0.01) .Self-medicatio n with antimalarials was more common in Xe Bang Fai than on Nakai (32.3% versus 7.0%, P <0.001). The mean amount of money spent per health consultation was US $ 1.7 in Nakai and US $ 7.2 in Xe Bang Fai.Conclusion : The observed differences in self-reported ill-health and health seeking behavior among these two Lao communities need to be considered when implementing setting-specific mitigation measures as part of the public health action plan of the Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric project.