IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0168668.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Caregivers’ Malaria Knowledge, Beliefs and Attitudes, and Related Factors in the Bata District, Equatorial Guinea

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Romay-Barja
  • Policarpo Ncogo
  • Gloria Nseng
  • Maria A Santana-Morales
  • Zaida Herrador
  • Pedro Berzosa
  • Basilio Valladares
  • Matilde Riloha
  • Agustin Benito

Abstract

Objectives: Adequate community knowledge about malaria is crucial in order to improve prevention by reducing exposure to the disease. Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children of less than five years of age in Equatorial Guinea. However, information concerning the accuracy of community knowledge is insufficient. This study aimed at assessing the depth of caregivers’ knowledge of malaria, their beliefs and attitudes about this disease, and their socioeconomic determinants in the Bata district of Equatorial Guinea. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the district of Bata, involving 440 houses selected from 18 rural villages and 26 urban neighbourhoods. A combined "Malaria Knowledge Score" was generated based on caregivers’ knowledge about transmission, symptoms, prevention, the treatment of children, and best place to seek treatment. Multivariate logistic regressions analyses were performed to assess those factors that are associated with knowledge about malaria. Results: A total of 428 caregivers were interviewed; 255 (59.6%) and 173 (40.4%) lived in urban and rural areas respectively. Significant differences between rural and urban households were observed in caregivers’ malaria knowledges and beliefs. Almost 42% of urban and 65% of rural caregivers were unaware as to how malaria is transmitted (OR = 2.69; 95% CI: 1.78–4.05). Together with rurality, the factors most significantly associated with the Malaria Knowledge were the level of education of the caregiver and the socioeconomic status of the household. Conclusions: Improvements in educational programs are needed to empower the most vulnerable households such that they can pro-actively implement malaria control measures. This could be achieved by a comprehensive communication strategy aimed at changing individual and community behaviours, and delivered by suitably trained community health workers and indoor residual spraying personnel.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Romay-Barja & Policarpo Ncogo & Gloria Nseng & Maria A Santana-Morales & Zaida Herrador & Pedro Berzosa & Basilio Valladares & Matilde Riloha & Agustin Benito, 2016. "Caregivers’ Malaria Knowledge, Beliefs and Attitudes, and Related Factors in the Bata District, Equatorial Guinea," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(12), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0168668
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168668
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168668
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168668&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0168668?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey Sachs & Pia Malaney, 2002. "The economic and social burden of malaria," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6872), pages 680-685, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chakraborty, Shankha & Papageorgiou, Chris & Pérez Sebastián, Fidel, 2010. "Diseases, infection dynamics, and development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(7), pages 859-872, October.
    2. Maximiliano Marzetti & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Long-Term Economic Effects of Populist Legal Reforms: Evidence from Argentina," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(1), pages 60-95, March.
    3. Rok Spruk & Mitja Kovac, 2018. "Inefficient Growth," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 9(2).
    4. Connie E Chen & C Taylor Gilliland & Jay Purcell & Sandeep P Kishore, 2010. "The Silent Epidemic of Exclusive University Licensing Policies on Compounds for Neglected Diseases and Beyond," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(3), pages 1-4, March.
    5. Brian Piper, 2014. "Factor-Specific Productivity," Working Papers 1401, Sam Houston State University, Department of Economics and International Business.
    6. Eric Maskin & Célestin Monga & Josselin Thuilliez & Jean-Claude Berthélemy, 2019. "The economics of malaria control in an age of declining aid," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-5, December.
    7. Janz, Teresa & Augsburg, Britta & Gassmann, Franziska & Nimeh, Zina, 2023. "Leaving no one behind: Urban poverty traps in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    8. Paul Cross & Rhiannon T Edwards & Philip Nyeko & Gareth Edwards-Jones, 2009. "The Potential Impact on Farmer Health of Enhanced Export Horticultural Trade between the U.K. and Uganda," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-18, April.
    9. Rossi, Pauline & Villar, Paola, 2020. "Private health investments under competing risks: Evidence from malaria control in Senegal," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    10. HEPP, Ralf, 2010. "CONSEQUENCES OF DEBT RELIEF INITIATIVES IN THE 1990s," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 10(1).
    11. Anastasia Litina, 2016. "Natural land productivity, cooperation and comparative development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 351-408, December.
    12. Josselin Thuilliez, 2007. "Malaria and Primary Education: A Cross-Country Analysis on Primary Repetition and Completion Rates," Post-Print halshs-00144666, HAL.
    13. Douglas Gollin & Christian Zimmermann, 2005. "Malaria," 2005 Meeting Papers 561, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. Christina Paxson & Norbert Schady, 2007. "Does Money Matter? The Effects of Cash Transfers on Child Health and Development in Rural Ecuador," Working Papers 145, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    15. Paolo Buonanno & Ruben Durante & Giovanni Prarolo & Paolo Vanin, 2015. "Poor Institutions, Rich Mines: Resource Curse in the Origins of the Sicilian Mafia," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(586), pages 175-202, August.
    16. Ng, Pin & Zhao, Xiaobing, 2011. "No matter how it is measured, income declines with global warming," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 963-970, March.
    17. Voigt, Stefan, 2022. "Determinant of Social Norms," ILE Working Paper Series 58, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    18. Katharina Mühlhoff, 2022. "Darwin beats malthus: evolutionary anthropology, human capital and the demographic transition," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 16(3), pages 575-614, September.
    19. Smith, Richard D. & Yago, Milton & Millar, Michael & Coast, Jo, 2005. "Assessing the macroeconomic impact of a healthcare problem: The application of computable general equilibrium analysis to antimicrobial resistance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1055-1075, November.
    20. Carl-Johan Dalgaard & Holger Strulik, 2015. "The physiological foundations of the wealth of nations," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 37-73, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0168668. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.