Social economic factors and malaria transmission in Lower Moshi, Northern Tanzania

Abstract

BackgroundFor many years social economic status has been used as an indicator to characterize malaria treatment seeking behaviors of communities and their adherence to malaria control programs. The present study was therefore conducted to assess the influence of household social economic status, knowledge, attitude and practice on treatment seeking behaviors, distance to health facilities and vector control measures in the Lower Moshi area, northern Tanzania.MethodsA cross-sectional household survey was carried out, a quantitative method was used to collect information from the households, and the household socio-economic status was estimated by employing a household asset-based approach. The structured questionnaire also collected information on malaria knowledge, attitudes and treatment seeking behaviors.ResultsA total of 197 (68.8% were female) household heads were interviewed. Distance to the health centers influenced malaria treatment seeking behaviors especially for children (P = 0.001) and the number of visits to the health facilities made by the household members (P = 0.001). The head of the households' level of education had an influence on bed-net retreatment (P < 0.001) and acceptability of larval control programmes (P <0.001). Similarly, a significant association was observed between bed-net retreatment, larval control and occupation of the head of the household .ConclusionDistance to the health centre influenced malaria treatment seeking behaviors, and the number of visits made by the household members. In addition, the education level of the household heads played a role in understanding and in the selection of malaria interventions for the households. Increasing the number of health facilities close to rural areas will improve malaria treatment seeking behavior, case management and hence reduce malaria-associated morbidities, especially in high risk groups.

An Application of Cultural Model to Assess and Compare Malaria Prevention Among Afghani Migrant and Baluchi Resident in the Endemic Area, Southeastern Iran

“…Nonetheless, we found a significant relationship between education and malaria but education may indirectly effect on knowledge of malaria among Afghani participants as well as Baluchis. Similarity, a significant association between education level and Knowledge on malaria transmission, prevention, and treatment was reported in some African countries [17][18][19].…”

Distance toAnopheles sundaicuslarval habitats dominant among risk factors for parasitemia in meso-endemic Southwest Sumba, Indonesia

“…In general, children less than 5 years old had the highest frequencies of parasitemia, pointing to agedependent determinants of protection that may or may not be the product of cumulative exposure to infection during life. 80,81 Increasing household distance to a health facility, a known risk factor for malaria, 82,83 was also identified as a significant risk factor for patent parasitemia in bivariate analysis. However, this relationship failed to retain significance in the multivariate model, likely confounded by the distance to larval habitats.…”

Blood Lead Alters The Anemia Status of Malaria Infected Children in Katanga Kampala Uganda.

“…Over accumulation of hepcidin reduces the available iron in circulation hence hard times for parasite's survival. Because 60% of Kampala city habitants live in slums such as Katanga [1] where social amenities are a big problem, families in these areas live in overcrowded conditions and makeshift shelters exposed to open sewers, mosquito breeding grounds [20,21] these make them vulnerable to malaria infections. This study found a relatively high malaria infection rate especially among children in this area as compared to one reported other parts of the city and this could as result of geographic and social disadvantages of the area [1].…”