Investigating Potential Socioeconomic and Behavioral Factors Influencing Mosquito Net Ownership in Three Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Activity Number: 174
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 10, 2015 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics in Epidemiology
• Author(s): Benjamin Pope* and Denise Roe and Kacey Ernst and Daoqin Tong
• Companies: The University of Arizona and The University of Arizona and The University of Arizona and The University of Arizona

Abstract

Malaria was responsible for 207 million illnesses per year, as of 2012. One of the main methods used to combat mosquito-borne malaria is the use of mosquito nets. Many previous studies have examined various factors affecting malaria incidence and bed net ownership and usage, but few have made cross-country comparisons. Data were obtained from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program. In this study we used multilevel hierarchical regression to examine the factors which affect net ownership in Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania by simultaneously accounting for effects at the individual household and regional levels, as well as a combined model including all three countries. In Tanzania, wealth index, being closer to a water source, bicycle ownership, and having children under 5 were significantly associated with higher odds of bed net ownership. Results were similar in the other two countries, and for all three countries combined. A previously unidentified factor, bicycle ownership, was associated with higher odds of owning bed nets at lower altitudes.