Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Social Science & Medicine, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Although diarrhoea and malaria are among the leading causes of child mortality and morbidity in Sub-Saharan Africa, few detailed studies have examined the patterns and determinants of these ailments in the most affected communities. In this paper, we investigate the spatial distribution of observed diarrhoea and fever prevalence in Malawi using individual data for 10,185 children from the 2000 Malawi Demographic and Health survey. We highlight inequalities in child health by mapping the residual district spatial effects using a geo-additive probit model that simultaneously controls for spatial dependence in the data and potential nonlinear effects of covariates. The residual spatial effects were modelled via a Bayesian approach. For both ailments, we were able to identify a distinct district pattern of childhood morbidity. In particular, the results suggest that children living in the capital city are less affected by fever, although this is not true for diarrhoea, where some urban agglomerations are associated with a higher childhood morbidity risk. The spatial patterns emphasize the role of remoteness as well as climatic, environmental, and geographic factors on morbidity. The fixed effects show that for diarrhoea, the risk of child morbidity appears to be lower among infants who are exclusively breastfed than among those who are mixed-fed. However, exclusive breastfeeding was not found to have a protective effect on fever. An important socio-economic factor for both diarrhoea and fever morbidity was parental education, especially maternal educational attainment. Diarrhoea and fever were both observed to show an interesting association with child's age. We were able to discern the continuous worsening of the child morbidity up to 8-12 months of age. This deterioration set in right after birth and continues, more or less linearly until 8-12 months, before beginning to decline thereafter. Independent of other factors, a separate spatial process produces district inequalities in child's health. ... Read more

Book Description
This is the most recent and up-to-date compilation of articles exploring the scientific and public health aspects of childhood diarrhoea and malnutrition.Written jointly by authors from developed and developing countries, it is essential reading for health workers and postgraduate students. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Social Science & Medicine, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The literature is growing on the subject of coping strategies. However, with the exception of some work on the promotion of oral rehydration therapy (ORT), very few studies have examined coping strategies as a response to the ongoing diarrhoeal disease burden. This is particularly relevant in the case of self-care, previously documented as the most readily implemented treatment in the developing world and an increasingly common health behaviour in rural Bangladesh. This study analysed the socioeconomic factors that influence the adoption of self-care and the role that varied asset availability plays in relation to households choosing, or being forced to implement, a coping strategy. Qualitative methods were used to collect data from three villages in Nilphamari District, North West Bangladesh, in 2004. The findings produced a detailed picture of asset availability and its influence on household use of self-care treatment practices. The strong role of aspects of social capital in building human capital was highlighted, as well as how these aspects of social capital can assist household welfare through self-care in times of diarrhoeal disease. In contrast, households exhibiting weakened social and human capital were more excluded from information on appropriate self-care treatments. Development agencies and health care policies might therefore strengthen levels of household resilience to diarrhoeal disease more cost-effectively by focusing on activities that facilitate self-care through support of social networks and education channels. ... Read more