Social determinants of malaria in an endemic area of Indonesia

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: Hamzah Hasyim, Pat Dale, David A. Groneberg, Ulrich Kuch, Ruth Müller
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2019
• Subjects: Multivariable analysis; Malaria prevalence; Social health determinants; Social epidemiology; Community health services; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-019-2760-8; https://doaj.org/article/f8f6d7f65a5c4571a82c1010db00f75b

Abstract Background Malaria is an increasing concern in Indonesia. Socio-demographic factors were found to strongly influence malaria prevalence. This research aimed to explore the associations between socio-demographic factors and malaria prevalence in Indonesia. Methods The study used a cross-sectional design and analysed relationships among the explanatory variables of malaria prevalence in five endemic provinces using multivariable logistic regression. Results The analysis of baseline socio-demographic data revealed the following independent risk variables related to malaria prevalence: gender, age, occupation, knowledge of the availability of healthcare services, measures taken to protect from mosquito bites, and housing condition of study participants. Multivariable analysis showed that participants who were unaware of the availability of health facilities were 4.2 times more likely to have malaria than those who were aware of the health facilities (adjusted odds ratio = 4.18; 95% CI 1.52–11.45; P = 0.005). Conclusions Factors that can be managed and would favour malaria elimination include a range of prevention behaviours at the individual level and using the networks at the community level of primary healthcare centres. This study suggests that improving the availability of a variety of health facilities in endemic areas, information about their services, and access to these is essential.