Paediatric healthcare in Manhiça district through a gender lens: a retrospective analysis of 17 years of morbidity and demographic surveillance data.

Background: Sex and gender are important determinants of health. Gender-based health inequities in the paediatric population have been reported in various countries, but data remain limited. In Mozambique, research on this topic is very scarce. Here we aimed to explore whether boys and girls in Manhiça district, southern Mozambique, differ in access to and provision of healthcare.

Methods: This retrospective analysis includes data on all paediatric (<15 years old) visits to six outpatient clinics and admissions to one hospital in Manhiça district from 2004 to 2020, collected through the morbidity surveillance system of the Manhiça Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS). We compared characteristics and outcomes between boys and girls using descriptive statistics, standardised mean differences, and logistic regression. Post-discharge events were analysed using Cox proportional hazards regression and Fine-Gray competing risk regression. Minimum community-based incidence rates of outpatient clinic visits and hospitalisations were calculated using demographic surveillance data from the Manhiça HDSS and analysed with negative binomial regression.

Results: Girls represented 49.2% (560 630 out of 1 139 962) of paediatric visits to outpatient clinics and 45.1% (18 625 out of 41 278) of hospitalisations. The girls-to-boys incidence rate ratio (IRR) for hospitalisations was 0.81 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.79-0.84). Both boys and girls experienced symptoms for a median duration of one day (interquartile range (IQR) = 1-2) before seeking care. Severe manifestations at presentation to an outpatient clinic or upon hospitalisation tended to be less frequent in girls (girls-to-boys odds ratios (ORs) = 0.71-1.11). Girls were less frequently referred or admitted to hospital after an outpatient clinic visit (OR = 0.82; 95% CI = 0.79-0.86 and OR = 0.85; 95% CI = 0.84-0.87, respectively). The hospital case fatality ratio was 4.1% in boys and 4.2% in girls. The median duration of hospitalisation was three days (IQR = 2-5) and did not differ between boys and girls. Revisits to outpatient clinics, hospital readmissions, and hospital post-discharge mortality were similar in both groups.

Conclusions: Girls had fewer referrals and admissions to hospital in Manhiça district, but they were also less likely to present with severe manifestations. Other studied indicators of healthcare access and provision were overall similar for boys and girls. Further research is needed to continue assessing potential gender biases and sex differences in paediatric healthcare in Mozambique.