Effect of improved housing on illness in children under 5 years old in northern Malawi: cross sectional study

(Abstract) British Medical Journal 19may01

BMJ 2001;322:1209-1212 ( 19 May )

Christopher G Wolff, researcher, ^a Dirk G Schroeder, associate professor, ^a Mark W Young, director. ^b

^a Department of International Health, Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA, ^b Primary Health Care Department, Ekwedeni Mission Hospital, Ekwendeni, Malawi

Correspondence to D G Schroeder dschr02@sph.emory.edu

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a Habitat for Humanity housing improvement programme in northern Malawi on the prevalence of childhood illnesses.
Design: Household based cross sectional study.
Setting: Rural communities centred near the small northern Malawi town of Ekwendeni.
Subjects: 318 children under 5 years old.
Main outcome measures: Prevalence of respiratory, gastrointestinal, and malarial infections according to maternal recall, laboratory, or clinical data.
Results: Children living in improved homes were less likely to have respiratory, gastrointestinal, or malarial illnesses (odds ratio 0.56, 95% confidence interval 0.35 to 0.91) after confounding factors were controlled for. The reductions in individual diseases were not significant.
Conclusion: Improved housing significantly reduced the burden of disease among children under 5 years old.