Under this section, we considered age of child, category of residence, cargiver/mothers education level, and household items that include radio, electricity and television variables to study the differences in malaria status among children below five years of both uganda and kenya.
Prevalence of malaria in children under the age of five years between uganda and kenya
Figure 1 shows the prevalence of malaria in children under the age of five years old in both Uganda and Kenya. Findings indicate that in almost the same time frame (2015), Uganda had more malaria cases than Kenya
Decomposition of differences in malaria status in children under the age of five years old
The multivariate nonlinear logit decomposition model was used to decompose differences in malaria status in children under the age of five years old between Uganda and Kenya into components attributable to differences in socioeconomic and proximate characteristics or endowments (E) and the effects of these characteristics or coefficients (C) on children. Only significant predictors of malaria in children under the age of five years old in Table 1 were chosen for decomposition. The region was a significant predictor of malaria but was dropped because it differs between the groups (Uganda and Kenya). Table 1 presents decomposition results of differences in malaria status between Uganda and Kenya.
Table 1
Decomposition of differences in Malaria status
Component | Coefficient | P-Value | 95% CI | Percent |
E | 0.041 | 0.000 | 0.0345 | 0.0472 | 28.04 |
C | 0.105 | 0.000 | 0.0922 | 0.1174 | 71.96 |
R | 0.146 | 0.000 | 0.1327 | 0.1588 | 100 |
Note E component represents changes in characteristics of children, and C component represents effects of characteristics, R is the total variation.
The findings in Table 2 indicate that overall disparity in Malaria status in children below the age of five years between Uganda and Kenya were attributed to changes in Children Characteristics (endowments) with p < 0.05. There was also a significant relationship between changes in Malaria Status and changes in effects of characteristics (Coefficients) with P < 0.05.
Furthermore, Table 2 shows that the overall differences in characteristics of children below the age of five years old contributed to 28.04% of the disparity in malaria status (P = 0.000; CI = 0.0345–0.0472). In other words, Malaria status in children below the age of five years old between Uganda and Kenya would have reduced by 28.04% in the absence of differences in the characteristics of children below the age of five years. Characteristics such as Age of the Child, Caregiver/Mother’s Educational level, Residence, Household items such as Radio, Electricity, and Television contributed to the overall malaria Status in children under the age of five years old. The differences in effects accounted for 71.96% of the observed Malaria status between Uganda and Kenya, with differences in intercepts (baseline logits) accounting for most of this.
Table 2
Detailed Decomposition of differences in Malaria Status
| Due to difference in Characteristics | Due to difference in Coefficients | |
| | | (E) | | | (C) |
Characteristic | Coefficient | p-value | % | Coefficient | p-value | % |
Age of the Child | | | | | | |
0–11 Months | | | | | | |
12–23 Months | -0.0001 | 0.002 | -0.098 | -0.0105 | 0.131 | -7.1764 |
24–47 Months | 0.001 | 0.000 | 0.7086 | -0.0198 | 0.091 | -13.575 |
48–59 Months | -0.002 | 0.000 | -1.0699 | -0.0106 | 0.079 | -7.2492 |
Caregiver/Mother's Educational Level | | | | | |
No education | | | | | | |
Primary | -0.004 | 0.000 | -2.7423 | -0.37 | 0.000 | -25.39 |
Secondary | 0.01 | 0.000 | 6.8326 | 0.0193 | 0.008 | -13.234 |
Tertiary | -0.005 | 0.006 | -3.2799 | -0.0031 | 0.018 | -2.1134 |
Category of Residence | | | | | | |
Urban | | | | | | |
Rural | 0.3 | 0.000 | 20.336 | 0.016 | 0.273 | 11.039 |
Household Items | | | | | | |
Radio | | | | | | |
Yes | | | | | | |
No | 0.001 | 0.001 | 0.92 | -0.0064 | 0.470 | -4.4185 |
Electricity | | | | | | |
Yes | | | | | | |
No | 0.006 | 0.071 | 3.79 | -0.009 | 0.272 | -6.4628 |
Television | | | | | | |
Yes | | | | | | |
No | 0.039 | 0.331 | 2.65 | 0.0193 | 0.030 | 13.296 |
constant | | | | 0.1853 | 0.000 | 127.24 |
Note: level of significance was determined at p < 0.05
Again, Table 2 illustrates the overall differences in characteristics of children below the age of five years old contributed to 28.04% of the disparity in malaria status (P = 0.000; CI = 0.0345–0.0472). In other words, Malaria status in children below the age of five years old between Uganda and Kenya would have reduced by 28.04% in the absence of differences in the characteristics of children below the age of five years. Characteristics such as Age of the Child, Caregiver/Mother’s Educational level, Residence, Household items such as Radio, Electricity, and Television contributed to the overall malaria Status in children under the age of five years old. The differences in effects accounted for 71.96% of the observed Malaria status between Uganda and Kenya, with differences in intercepts (baseline logits) accounting for most of this.
The four main characteristics which contributed to differences in malaria status include Residence which contributed 20% to the overall malaria Status in children under the age of five years old (P = 0.000), Caregiver/Mother’s Educational level which contributed 1% to the overall malaria Status in children under the age of five years old (P < 0.000) where the major contributions were noted among children whose caregivers/mothers had secondary education 7% (p = 0.000), Household items such as Radio contributed 1% (P = 0.001) to the overall malaria Status in children under the age of five years old as seen in Table 2
Furthermore, Table 2 shows that age of a child was also another characteristic that contributed − 1.3% of the observed differences in Malaria status in children under the age of five years old between Uganda and Kenya. The major contribution was from those children between 48–59 months who contributed − 1.1% (p = 0.000)
In addition, Table 2, draws that caregiver/mother’s educational level was the characteristic that had a significant effect on the overall disparities in malaria in children under the age of five years old between Uganda and Kenya. The major effect was from those children whose caregivers/ mothers had primary education which contributed − 25.39% (p = 0.000)
Positive percentages indicated the proportion in which the overall gap would reduce if the differences in the characteristics of children in Uganda and Kenya were to disappear, on the other hand, negative percentages showed the proportion in which the overall gap in malaria status would increase if the differences in the characteristics of children under five years old in both Uganda and Kenya were to disappear