The Role of Knowledge of COVID-19 Symptoms in Health Facility Visits: A Study of Rural India

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted global health, particularly influencing healthcare-seeking behavior in rural areas where infrastructure and literacy are limited. However, empirical studies on the role of knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms in health facility visits remain scarce. Applying the Health Belief Model, this study hypothesizes that greater knowledge of symptoms of COVID-19 enhances the likelihood of visiting healthcare facilities in rural India due to increased perceived susceptibility and severity, thereby encouraging a timely medical visit. Utilizing a dataset of 1,950 respondents from the 2020 Round 1 of the COVID-19 Related Shocks Survey in Rural India, conducted by the World Bank and its collaborators, mean comparison tests and probit regression analysis were employed to investigate this relationship. The findings indicate that greater knowledge of the symptoms of COVID-19 significantly increases the likelihood of visits to the health facility. Additional factors influencing healthcare utilization include age, age squared, female gender, rich states, higher household consumption expenditure, no schooling and few interaction terms. The robustness of these findings was confirmed through Maximum Likelihood Estimation. The results underscore the importance of targeted health education and awareness campaigns to enhance health literacy and promote timely healthcare-seeking behavior during pandemics, especially in resource-limited rural settings.