Background: With over one million Syrian refugee children in the region, we undertook this study to characterize care-seeking behaviors and health service utilization for child refugees with the aim of informing humanitarian programming for non-camp settings in Jordan. Methods: A survey of Syrian refugees living outside of camps in Jordan was conducted using a 125×12 cluster design with probability proportional to size sampling to obtain a representative sample. The questionnaire focused on access to health services, including a module on care seeking for children. Results: Care seeking was high with 90.9% of households with a child less than 18years seeking medical care the last time it was needed. Households most often sought care for children in the public sector (54.6%), followed by private (36.5%) and charity sectors (8.9%). Among child care seekers, 88.6% were prescribed medication during the most recent visit, 90.6% of which obtained the medication. Overall, 49.4% of households reported out-of-pocket expenditures for either the consultation or prescribed medications at the most recent visit (mean $US21.1 and median $US0). Conclusions: Syrian refugees had good access to care for their sick children at the time of the survey; however, this has likely deteriorated since the survey because of the withdrawal of free access for refugees. The number of refugees in Jordan and relative accessibility of care has resulted in a large burden on the health system; the Jordanian government will require additional support if current levels of health access are to be maintained for Syrian refugees. © 2016 The Authors.

Humanitarian assistance Refugees Jordan Syria Child health

household questionnaire survey refugee sampling health survey Jordan Syrian Arab Republic human Refugees statistics and numerical data health service probability ethnology Cross-Sectional Studies Surveys and Questionnaires cluster analysis health expenditure cross-sectional study Humans medicine Adolescent consultation Infant, Newborn preschool child Infant Child, Preschool newborn household structure Behavior Child Welfare questionnaire social welfare health services child health health care utilization major clinical study Syria government utilization patient attitude Patient Acceptance of Health Care project design public sector medical care health care delivery Health Services Accessibility child care Child drug therapy humanitarian aid