Some socio-economic and demographic factors contributing to nutritional status (underweight and wasting) of children aged 1 to 4 years (n = 949) were studied in selected low income urban areas in Tanzania. Children were classified as either normal or malnourished and logistic regression was used in the analysis. Of the demographic variables studied, sex of the child was significant using both weight-for-age and weight-for-height indices. Males had better nutritional status than females. Mother's education level and age were significant risk factors using weight-for-age. Immunization status of the child and household density were also significant, but their effects became insignificant when morbidity and dietary variables were included in the analysis. Using weight-for-height the place of residence and number of children under 5 years in a household had significant effects on nutritional status through the latter was less significant when morbidity variables were incorporated. Children from big towns were significantly better off nutritionally than those from small towns. For dietary and morbidity variables frequency of feeding and diarrhoea were significant predictors of nutritional status (weight-for-age) while malaria was a significant predictor of weight-for-height.

Strategic campaigns to convince people to go for HIV testing should put more emphasis on radio programmes since these are effective means of communication in rural areas where desire for testing seems to be high. Such programmes should also focus on raising awareness on HIV prevention. HIV testing facilities should also be extended to the rural areas and be offered at affordable prices.

BackgroundAlthough, malaria control interventions are widely implemented to eliminate malaria disease, malaria is still a public health problem in Tanzania. Understanding the risk factors, spatial and space–time clustering for malaria deaths is essential for targeting malaria interventions and effective control measures. In this study, spatial methods were used to identify local malaria mortality clustering using verbal autopsy data.MethodsThe analysis used longitudinal data collected in Rufiji and Ifakara Health Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) sites for the period 1999–2011 and 2002–2012, respectively. Two models were used. The first was a non-spatial model where logistic regression was used to determine a household’s characteristic or an individual’s risk of malaria deaths. The second was a spatial Poisson model applied to estimate spatial clustering of malaria mortality using SaTScan™, with age as a covariate. ArcGIS Geographical Information System software was used to map the estimates obtained to show clustering and the variations related to malaria mortality.ResultsA total of 11,462 deaths in 33 villages and 9328 deaths in 25 villages in Rufiji and Ifakara HDSS, respectively were recorded. Overall, 2699 (24 %) of the malaria deaths in Rufiji and 1596 (17.1 %) in Ifakara were recorded during the study period. Children under five had higher odds of dying from malaria compared with their elderly counterparts aged five and above for Rufiji (AOR = 2.05, 95 % CI = 1.87–2.25), and Ifakara (AOR = 2.33, 95 % CI = 2.05–2.66), respectively. In addition, ownership of mosquito net had a protective effect against dying with malaria in both HDSS sites. Moreover, villages with consistently significant malaria mortality clusters were detected in both HDSS sites during the study period.ConclusionsClustering of malaria mortality indicates heterogeneity in risk. Improving targeted malaria control and treatment interventions to high risk clusters may lead to the reduction of malaria deaths at the household and probably at country level. Furthermore, ownership of mosquito nets and age appeared to be important predictors for malaria deaths.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12936-015-0905-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This study examines high incidence of under-five mortality among agro-pastoralists resulting from lack of access to healthcare facilities. A proportional sampling method was adopted, and descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used in data analysis. The results revealed low dependence of agro-pastoralists on formal healthcare facilities, which could be explained by prevalence of informal healthcare facilities in villages where they reside. Education, income, accessibility, and duration of stay in a particular area accounted for the choice of healthcare facilities. Level of education and income determined preference for formal health facilities, possibly due to influence of education on understanding benefits of treatment in formal health facilities and income to meet associated costs. Accessibility of health facility influenced the decision to patronize formal health facilities. This was evident in villages which were connected to reliable road networks. Additionally, the length of time one resides in a particular area played a role in adhering to traditional values influencing the choice of informal healthcare facilities. The government and private sector should invest in rural road networks and promote education among agro-pastoralists on importance of using formal healthcare facilities and rational use of household income to improve accessibility to formal health facilities.

BackgroundAlthough malaria decline has been observed in most sub-Saharan African countries, the disease still represents a significant public health burden in Tanzania. There are contradictions on the effect of ownership of at least one mosquito net at household on malaria mortality. This study presents a Bayesian modelling framework for the analysis of the effect of ownership of at least one mosquito net at household on malaria mortality with environmental factors as confounder variables.MethodsThe analysis used longitudinal data collected in Rufiji and Ifakara Health Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) sites for the period of 1999–2011 and 2002–2012, respectively. Bayesian framework modelling approach using integrated nested laplace approximation (INLA) package in R software was used. The space time models were established to assess the effect of ownership of mosquito net on malaria mortality in 58 villages in the study area.ResultsThe results show that an increase of 10 % in ownership of mosquito nets at village level had an average of 5.2 % decrease inall age malaria deaths (IRR = 0.948, 95 % CI = 0.917, 0.977) in Rufiji HDSS and 12.1 % decrease in all age malaria deaths (IRR = 0.879, 95 % CI = 0.806, 0.959) in Ifakara HDSS. In children under 5 years, results show an average of 5.4 % decrease of malaria deaths (IRR = 0.946, 95 % CI = 0.909, 0.982) in Rufiji HDSS and 10 % decrease of malaria deaths (IRR = 0.899, 95 % CI = 0.816, 0.995) in Ifakara HDSS. Model comparison show that model with spatial and temporal random effects was the best fitting model compared to other models without spatial and temporal, and with spatial–temporal interaction effects.ConclusionThis modelling framework is appropriate and provides useful approaches to understanding the effect of mosquito nets for targeting malaria control intervention. Furthermore, ownership of mosquito nets at household showed a significant impact on malaria mortality.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12936-016-1311-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In this paper we attempt to identify factors that determine knowledge on prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among primary school pupils in Tanzania using data extracted from the Family Life Education KAP Survey conducted in 1999. The data used consist of a sample of 18,564 pupils (about 50% males and 50% females) from all the 20 regions of Tanzania mainland. There were significant differences between boys and girls as regards knowledge of family life education in general. Boys tended to be more knowledgeable than girls about many aspects of family life education. The findings show that only 40.1% of the respondents were able to identify all the three STDs given in the questionnaire namely gonorrhoea, syphilis and AIDS. As regards modes of HIV transmission only 37.5% had full knowledge of these, while 48.8% knew condom use and abstinence as methods of STD prevention. The bivariate analysis showed significant relationships between knowledge of condom use and abstinence as methods of STD prevention with knowledge of STDs, HIV transmission, education level of the respondents, residence and parents' education for both boys and girls. However, knowledge of STDs, HIV transmission and residence came out clearly in the logistic regression as predictors of knowledge of condom use as a method of STD prevention for both sexes. For males, mother's education was also a significant predictor of knowledge of condom use as a method of STD prevention. Furthermore, a significant predictor of knowledge of condom use for female respondents was found to be the respondent's educational level. On the other hand, predictors of knowledge of abstinence as a method of STD prevention were knowledge of STDs and HIV transmission.

This paper attempts to identify some factors associated with extramarital sex by men in the Mbeya region of Tanzania using data from a survey conducted in 2003/2004. The choice of Mbeya region was prompted by the fact that it has been found by previous studies to be one of the regions with the highest HIV prevalence rate in Tanzania. Correlates of extramarital sex that were considered include current age, education, residence, age at first sexual intercourse, age at first marriage and sex before marriage. A bivariate analysis of the survey data, which comprised a sample size of 568 married men aged between 15 and 62 years revealed statistically significant association between extramarital sex with current age, education, age at first intercourse and sex before marriage. The effect of these variables was tested through a multivariate logistic regression analysis and all the four independent variables were found to be statistically significant predictors of extramarital sex in Mbeya region. Keywords: extramarital sex, correlates, logistic regression, HIV/AIDS, Tanzania.Maurice CY Mbago is a professor in the department of statistics and member of the Demographic Training Unit, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. His research interests include application of statistical and epidemiological methods to social and demographic data as well as risk factors for sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. He has also conducted and supervised research on determinants of infant and child mortality. Francis J Sichona is a senior lecturer in the department of statistics and member of the Demographic Training Unit, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. His research interests are in reproductive health including HIV/AIDS and youth sexuality. He has also conducted some research on family planning and family structures. Correspondence to: mmbago@udsm.ac.tz Determinants of extramarital sex by men in Tanzania: A case study of Mbeya region Maurice CY Mbago, Francis J Sichona RésuméEn utilisant des données d'une enquête menée en 2003/2004, cet article tente d'identifier des facteurs associés aux relations sexuelles hors mariage d'hommes de la région de Mbeya en Tanzanie. Le choix de la région de Mbeya a été motivé par le fait que des études précédentes ont constaté que cette région avait l'un des taux de prévalence du VIH les plus élevés de Tanzanie. Les corrélats des rapports sexuels hors mariage qui ont été examinés comprennent l'âge actuel, le niveau d' éducation, le lieu de résidence, l'âge lors du premier rapport sexuel, l'âge lors du premier mariage et s'il y a eu ou non des relations sexuelles avant le mariage. Une analyse à deux variables réalisée à partir des données de l' enquête, qui comprenait un échantillon de 568 hommes mariés âgés de 15 à 62 ans, a révélé une association statistiquement significative entre les relations sexuelles hors mariage et l'âge actuel, le niveau d' éducation, l'âge lors du premier rapport sexuel et s'il y a eu des relations sexuelles ou non avant le mariage. L' effet de ces variab...

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