Poverty and health among CDC plantation labourers in Cameroon: Perceptions, challenges and coping strategies.
Creating better access to good quality healthcare for the poor is a major challenge to development. In this study, we examined inter-linkages between poverty and disease, referred to as poverty-related diseases (PRDs), by investigating how Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) camp dwellers respond...
Published in: | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2017
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006100 https://doaj.org/article/a7039787f6d24f73b81ae2cd486bfd38 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a7039787f6d24f73b81ae2cd486bfd38 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a7039787f6d24f73b81ae2cd486bfd38 2023-05-15T15:16:31+02:00 Poverty and health among CDC plantation labourers in Cameroon: Perceptions, challenges and coping strategies. Valerie Makoge Lenneke Vaandrager Harro Maat Maria Koelen 2017-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006100 https://doaj.org/article/a7039787f6d24f73b81ae2cd486bfd38 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5714393?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0006100 https://doaj.org/article/a7039787f6d24f73b81ae2cd486bfd38 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 11, Iss 11, p e0006100 (2017) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006100 2022-12-31T13:27:19Z Creating better access to good quality healthcare for the poor is a major challenge to development. In this study, we examined inter-linkages between poverty and disease, referred to as poverty-related diseases (PRDs), by investigating how Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) camp dwellers respond to diseases that adversely affect their health and wellbeing. Living in plantation camps is associated with poverty, overcrowding, poor sanitation and the rapid spread of diseases. In a survey of 237 CDC camp dwellers in Cameroon, we used the health belief model to understand the drivers (perceived threats, benefits and cues for treatment seeking) of reported responses. Using logistic regression analysis, we looked for trends in people's response to malaria. We calculated the odds ratio of factors shown to have an influence on people's health, such as food, water, sanitation challenges and seeking formal healthcare for malaria. Malaria (40.3%), cholera (20.8%) and diarrhoea (17.7%) were the major PRDs perceived by camp dwellers. We found a strong link between what respondents perceived as PRDS and hygiene conditions. Poverty for our respondents was more about living in poor hygiene conditions than lack of money. Respondents perceived health challenges as stemming from their immediate living environment. Moreover, people employed self-medication and other informal health practices to seek healthcare. Interestingly, even though respondents reported using formal healthcare services as a general response to illness (84%), almost 90% stated that, in the case of malaria, they would use informal healthcare services. Our study recommends that efforts to curb the devastating effects of PRDs should have a strong focus on perceptions (i.e. include diseases that people living in conditions of poverty perceive as PRDs) and on hygiene practices, emphasising how they can be improved. By providing insights into the inter-linkages between poverty and disease, our study offers relevant guidance for potentially successful health ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 11 11 e0006100 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Valerie Makoge Lenneke Vaandrager Harro Maat Maria Koelen Poverty and health among CDC plantation labourers in Cameroon: Perceptions, challenges and coping strategies. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Creating better access to good quality healthcare for the poor is a major challenge to development. In this study, we examined inter-linkages between poverty and disease, referred to as poverty-related diseases (PRDs), by investigating how Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) camp dwellers respond to diseases that adversely affect their health and wellbeing. Living in plantation camps is associated with poverty, overcrowding, poor sanitation and the rapid spread of diseases. In a survey of 237 CDC camp dwellers in Cameroon, we used the health belief model to understand the drivers (perceived threats, benefits and cues for treatment seeking) of reported responses. Using logistic regression analysis, we looked for trends in people's response to malaria. We calculated the odds ratio of factors shown to have an influence on people's health, such as food, water, sanitation challenges and seeking formal healthcare for malaria. Malaria (40.3%), cholera (20.8%) and diarrhoea (17.7%) were the major PRDs perceived by camp dwellers. We found a strong link between what respondents perceived as PRDS and hygiene conditions. Poverty for our respondents was more about living in poor hygiene conditions than lack of money. Respondents perceived health challenges as stemming from their immediate living environment. Moreover, people employed self-medication and other informal health practices to seek healthcare. Interestingly, even though respondents reported using formal healthcare services as a general response to illness (84%), almost 90% stated that, in the case of malaria, they would use informal healthcare services. Our study recommends that efforts to curb the devastating effects of PRDs should have a strong focus on perceptions (i.e. include diseases that people living in conditions of poverty perceive as PRDs) and on hygiene practices, emphasising how they can be improved. By providing insights into the inter-linkages between poverty and disease, our study offers relevant guidance for potentially successful health ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Valerie Makoge Lenneke Vaandrager Harro Maat Maria Koelen |
author_facet |
Valerie Makoge Lenneke Vaandrager Harro Maat Maria Koelen |
author_sort |
Valerie Makoge |
title |
Poverty and health among CDC plantation labourers in Cameroon: Perceptions, challenges and coping strategies. |
title_short |
Poverty and health among CDC plantation labourers in Cameroon: Perceptions, challenges and coping strategies. |
title_full |
Poverty and health among CDC plantation labourers in Cameroon: Perceptions, challenges and coping strategies. |
title_fullStr |
Poverty and health among CDC plantation labourers in Cameroon: Perceptions, challenges and coping strategies. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Poverty and health among CDC plantation labourers in Cameroon: Perceptions, challenges and coping strategies. |
title_sort |
poverty and health among cdc plantation labourers in cameroon: perceptions, challenges and coping strategies. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006100 https://doaj.org/article/a7039787f6d24f73b81ae2cd486bfd38 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 11, Iss 11, p e0006100 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5714393?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0006100 https://doaj.org/article/a7039787f6d24f73b81ae2cd486bfd38 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006100 |
container_title |
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
e0006100 |
_version_ |
1766346816439189504 |