Efficient healthcare systems in developing economies are significant indicators of development. Health can either be optimised households' choices between preventive and curative healthcare services. In Cameroon like other developing countries, domestic healthcare service is either considered to be a normal or luxury good to households with competing alternative providers such as the public and private providers. To examine the healthcare preferences of households in the North West Region of Cameroon, a purposive sample of 300 households were collected and analysed using a multinomial logistic model. Households' characteristics such as sex and age of household heads, marital status of household heads and monthly income as well as providers' specific characteristics such as the reputation of the healthcare providers are significant determinants households 'healthcare choices. Implicitly the reputation of the healthcare provider serves as a signal for households to overcome information asymmetry on the quality of healthcare services offered. This study suggests that standardizing the measure of reputation of healthcare providers would be an efficient signal of quality to healthcare clients. Also, household access to quality healthcare can be improved with efficient healthcare support programs and deferred payment options.

Despite its simple and perceived affordable prevention methods, malaria has over time remained the main killer disease in Africa, Sub Sahara Africa, Cameroon and the North West Region in Particular. It is from the above backdrop that this study uses quantitative approach to examine the socioeconomic determinants of malaria prevention options adoption by households in the North West Region of Cameroon. Thus, data was collected from 400 households purposively selected among the top ten health districts with high prevalence of malaria in the North West Region of Cameroon. The study used both Ordinary Least Square, Poisson and Ordered Logit Regression techniques to capture the socioeconomic determinants of malaria prevention behaviour of households. These different methodologies were used to check the robustness of the results as methodology changes. The findings reveal that community based malaria prevalence, knowledge of malaria signs, knowledge of malaria cause, age of household heads, marital status of household heads, household size, cost of malaria prevention, household monthly income, education and employment status of the household head are all socioeconomic factors that determine malaria prevention options adopted by households in the North West Region. Based on the findings, the study strongly recommends further sensitization campaigns; creation of community-based malaria control committees; sponsored media programs; household empowerment programs, free distribution of Insecticide Treated Bed Nets, the use of holistic rather than individualistic malaria prevention strategies, among others as specific policy measures that can health achieve the much desired goal of eradicating malaria in the North West Region and Cameroon as a whole.

Malaria remains a major threat to life in Bamenda in particular and Cameroon in general. Despite numerous and relatively affordable malaria diagnostic and treatment methods, accurate choice of diagnosis remains a major challenge to the inhabitants of the almost 14,285 households in the Nkwen village of the Bamenda 3 municipality. This study was designed to investigate the key determinants of the choice of malaria diagnostic methods (demand side analysis) in the Nkwen village of the Bamenda 3 municipality. A purposive and randomized sampling method was employed to recruit of 560 household’s heads from the 46 quarters of the Nkwen village. The Multinomial Logistic Regression Model and Chi-Square analysis were used to analyze the collected data. The findings reveal that gender, marital status, educational level, income, household size, age, religion and health insurance policy contribute to the choice of malaria diagnostic methods in the study area. Therefore, the integration of socio-economic factors into malaria control policies will feasibly contribute to malaria decrease in the study area.