Effect of Improved Housing on Illness in Children Under 5 Years Old in Northern Malawi: Cross Sectional Study

Overview

Journal BMJ

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2001 May 19

PMID 11358772

Citations 15

Authors

C G Wolff

D G Schroeder

M W YOUNG

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a Habitat for Humanity housing improvement programme in northern Malawi on the prevalence of childhood illnesses.

Design: Household based cross sectional study.

Setting: Rural communities centred near the small northern Malawi town of Ekwendeni.

Subjects: 318 children under 5 years old.

Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence of respiratory, gastrointestinal, and malarial infections according to maternal recall, laboratory, or clinical data.

Results: Children living in improved homes were less likely to have respiratory, gastrointestinal, or malarial illnesses (odds ratio 0.56, 95% confidence interval 0.35 to 0.91) after confounding factors were controlled for. The reductions in individual diseases were not significant.

Conclusion: Improved housing significantly reduced the burden of disease among children under 5 years old.

Citing Articles

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Colston J, Fang B, Nong M, Chernyavskiy P, Annapareddy N, Lakshmi V PLOS Glob Public Health. 2024; 4(12):e0003338.

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The effects of modern housing on malaria transmission in different endemic zones: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Malaria epidemiology and comparative reliability of diagnostic tools in Bannu; an endemic malaria focus in south of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Jahan F, Khan N, Wahid S, Ullah Z, Kausar A, Ali N Pathog Glob Health. 2019; 113(2):75-85.

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Improving socioeconomic status may reduce the burden of malaria in sub Saharan Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Degarege A, Fennie K, Degarege D, Chennupati S, Madhivanan P PLoS One. 2019; 14(1):e0211205.

PMID: 30677102 PMC: 6345497. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211205.

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