Social determinants of malaria
Citation: Cardona-Arias JA, Salas-Zapata WA, Carmona-Fonseca J. Determinación y determinantes sociales de la malaria: revisión sistemática, 1980-2018. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica. 2019;43:e39.
Language: Abstract available in EN, ES, and PT. Full text available in ES.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: El trabajo recibió financiamiento de Colciencias (proyecto 111577757051, contrato 755-2017) y de la Estrategia de Sostenibilidad CODI, Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia) 2016-2017 (código ES-84160127).
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for articles on the impact of social determinants within the context of malaria. They searched for articles published from 1980 to 2018 and did not restrict their searches by study design. They included 10 studies.
What was found: 33 social determinants of malaria were found. Individual-level determinants were being an adult, nocturnal habits, and lack of preventative measures. Intermediate-level determinants included poor physical and sanitary infrastructure, located in forested areas, overcrowded, and containing animals. People working in agroforestry, migrants, and individuals who under-used DDT insecticide, mosquito nets, or prophylactic or therapeutic drugs were at greater risk for malaria.
Implications: The authors of this study stated that there is a need for research about the impact of social determinants on health inequities related to malaria.
Other considerations: The authors of the review did not discuss their findings in the context of issues relating to health equity.
This summary was prepared by Joly Ghanawi, checked by Sydney Johnson, and finalized by William Summerskill.