Investigating the Important Correlates of Maternal Education and Childhood Malaria Infections

Abstract

Abstract. The relationship between maternal education and child health has intrigued researchers for decades. This study explored the interaction between maternal education and childhood malaria infection. Cross-sectional survey data from three African countries were used. Descriptive analysis and multivariate logistic regression models were completed in line with identified correlates. Marginal effects and Oaxaca decomposition analysis on maternal education and childhood malaria infection were also estimated. Children with mothers whose education level was beyond primary school were 4.7% less likely to be malaria-positive (P 0.001). The Oaxaca decomposition analysis exhibited an 8% gap in childhood malaria infection for educated and uneducated mothers. Over 60% of the gap was explained by differences in household wealth (26%), household place of domicile (21%), malaria transmission intensities (14%), and media exposure (12%). All other correlates accounted for only 27%. The full adjusted model showed a robust and significant relationship between maternal education and childhood malaria infection.

Is maternal education a social vaccine for childhood malaria infection? A cross-sectional study from war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo

“…Specific infections that have been linked to maternal education include: diarrhea and pneumonia [32], chronic suppurative otitis media [33], Helicobacter pylori [33,35], and malaria [7]. A cross-sectional study of over 10,000 households in Tanzania, Uganda, and Angola investigating the relationship between maternal education and childhood malaria infection demonstrated that there is a negative relationship between maternal education and the risk of childhood malaria infection [7]. Our study confirms and extends these findings to another subSaharan African context, characterized by social disruption due to violent conflict.…”

“…In addition to maternal education, we identified multiple other independent predictors of childhood malaria (Table 3). In order to integrate these co-variates into a cohesive structure, we adapted a conceptual framework first proposed by Njau et al [7], linking maternal education to childhood malaria though several putative causal pathways (Supplemental Figure 1). Mothers with higher education: (1) may be more likely to access malaria prevention measures (e.g.…”

“…Previous studies in other countries noted a difference in malaria prevalence of 14% in children of mothers with primary or no education (30%) versus education beyond primary (16%) [7].…”

“…To examine associations between variables which were continuous or ordinal, we used Spearman's rank correlation (ρ). Based on work by Njau et al [7], we developed a conceptual framework (Supplemental Figure 1) linking maternal education to malaria infection in the child. Concepts in this framework and their proxy variables are defined in Table 1.…”

“…Average household size is associated with malaria prevalence as the risk of transmission may increase when the number of people sleeping together in the same room increases [14]. Recent evidence suggests that a mother's educational attainment and social network may be protective against malaria [7]. However, whether the protective effect of maternal education on childhood malaria persists in settings of violent conflict and social disruption has not been previously investigated, to our knowledge.…”