Healthcare facility factors associated with health-seeking behavior among secondary school students in the Dodoma region: an analytical cross-sectional study

The health-seeking behavior among adolescents was not satisfactory and is influenced by factors such as service costs, long queues, and their socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, and education). Improving adolescents' health-seeking behavior requires reducing hospital waiting times and queues. To address cost barriers to health-seeking behavior, initiatives should be implemented to ensure that each secondary school student has health insurance. Interventions need to consider adolescents' age, sex, and education to improve their health-seeking behavior. For instance, priorities should be directed toward very young adolescents and those with lower levels of education.