Social determinants of malaria in an endemic area of Indonesia

BACKGROUND: Malaria is an increasing concern in Indonesia. Socio-demographic factors were found to strongly influence malaria prevalence. This research aimed to explore the associations between socio-demographic factors and malaria prevalence in Indonesia. METHODS: The study used a cross-sectional design and analysed relationships among the explanatory variables of malaria prevalence in five endemic provinces using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: The analysis of baseline socio-demographic data revealed the following independent risk variables related to malaria prevalence: gender, age, occupation, knowledge of the availability of healthcare services, measures taken to protect from mosquito bites, and housing condition of study participants. Multivariable analysis showed that participants who were unaware of the availability of health facilities were 4.2 times more likely to have malaria than those who were aware of the health facilities (adjusted odds ratio = 4.18; 95% CI 1.52–11.45; P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Factors that can be managed and would favour malaria elimination include a range of prevention behaviours at the individual level and using the networks at the community level of primary healthcare centres. This study suggests that improving the availability of a variety of health facilities in endemic areas, information about their services, and access to these is essential. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12936-019-2760-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.