Socio-economic status and malaria-related outcomes in Mvomero District, Tanzania.
Abstract
While policies often target malaria prevention and treatment - proximal causes of
malaria and related health outcomes - too little attention has been given to the role
of household- and individual-level socio-economic status (SES) as a fundamental cause
of disease risk in developing countries. This paper presents a conceptual model outlining
ways in which SES may influence malaria-related outcomes. Building on this conceptual
model, we use household data from rural Mvomero, Tanzania, to examine empirical relationships
among multiple measures of household and individual SES and demographics, on the one
hand, and malaria prevention, illness, and diagnosis and treatment behaviours, on
the other. We find that access to prevention and treatment is significantly associated
with indicators of households' wealth; education-based disparities do not emerge in
this context. Meanwhile, reported malaria illness shows a stronger association with
demographic variables than with SES (controlling for prevention). Greater understanding
of the mechanisms through which SES and malaria policies interact to influence disease
risk can help to reduce health disparities and reduce the malaria burden in an equitable
manner.
Type
Journal articleSubject
AdolescentAdult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Antimalarials
Female
Health Services Accessibility
Healthcare Disparities
Humans
Malaria
Male
Middle Aged
Mosquito Nets
Poverty
Risk Factors
Rural Health
Rural Population
Social Class
Socioeconomic Factors
Tanzania
Young Adult
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6498Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1080/17441692.2010.539573Publication Info
Dickinson, Katherine L; Randell, Heather F; Kramer, Randall A; & Shayo, Elizabeth
H (2012). Socio-economic status and malaria-related outcomes in Mvomero District, Tanzania.
Glob Public Health, 7(4). pp. 384-399. 10.1080/17441692.2010.539573. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6498.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Randall Kramer
Juli Plant Grainger Professor Emeritus of Global Environmental Health
Before coming to Duke in 1988, he was on the faculty at Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University. He has held visiting positions at IUCN--The World Conservation
Union, the Economic Growth Center at Yale University, and the Indonesian Ministry
of Forestry. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank, World Health Organization
and other international organizations. He was named Duke University's Scholar Teacher
of the Year in 2004.
Kramer's research is focused on the econ

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