Determinants of the use of bed nets for the prevention of malaria for children under 5 years in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Loading...
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study was conducted to explore the determinants of bed net usage for the protection of children under the age of five against malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The study aims to know the different socio-economic factors that affect child survival of malaria using bed nets and to determine the impact of these factors on bed net usage in preventing infection with the malaria parasite. The objectives are to determine child characteristics, mother or caregiver characteristic, and household characteristics associated with the use of bed net.
To determine the impact of these above-mentioned characteristics, data from the second Demographic and Health Survey in the DRC (EDS-RDC II) was used. Data collected from 2013 to 2014 was analyzed using STATA IC version 2013 to answer research questions such as; the association between participant demographics and bed net usage, maternal education, marital status and their association with child protection using bed net. The last this research answered are more related to the gender of household head, the location of the household where the child lived as well as the household wealth and their influence on child sleeping or not to sleep in the bed net.
Data was weighted to make the result nationally representative. The findings reveal that there is a relationship between most of the socioeconomic factors and the use of bed net for the protection of children under the age of five years in the DRC. Age of the child influences the use of bed net, this is so as the findings show that the younger a child is, the higher the chance of him/her sleeping under a bed net and vice-versa. The research findings also show that children who are under the care of a single mother have less chances of sleeping under the bed net as against children under the care of both parents who have higher chances of sleeping under bed nets. The importance of mother’s education is justified by this study because the less educated a woman is, the lesser the chances of a child sleeping under the bed net. Household wealth also shows an impact on the child survival against malaria.
Description
Master’s Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.