Publication:

Prevalence and socio-economic determinants of malaria among children under five in Cameroon

Background Malaria is a major risk of morbidity and mortality among children under five in Cameroon with 13.7% of deaths in 2017. This paper aims to determine the prevalence and socioeconomic determinants of malaria among children under five in Cameroon.

Methods The study used secondary population data from 5th demographic and health survey (DHS-V). A stratified, 2-stage sampling was implemented and yielded a sample of 4094 children under 5 years of age who underwent a rapid diagnostic test (RDT). The logistic regression model was used to estimate the prevalence and socio-economic determinants of malaria with multivariate descriptive and explanatory analysis. The results were presented in terms of cross tabulations and frequencies and the differences were considered statistically significant at a p<0.05.

Results The results show that 1024 out of 4094 children were tested positive, with a prevalence rate of 25%. There is a regional and residential disparity in malaria prevalence and a child living in a rural area was twice more likely to be infected with malaria. The prevalence of malaria is a function of the socio-economic characteristics of the household, as prevalence decreases as well-being improves from 33.8% among the poor to 13.3% among the rich. Low socio-economic status is a risk factor for malaria infection in children under five in Cameroon.

Conclusions The policy implications are concerned with the reduction of socio-economic disparities, the promotion of free health care and universal health coverage in Cameroon.