How socioeconomic status affected the access to health facilities and malaria diagnosis in children under five years: findings from 19 sub-Saharan African countries

Table 1 Characteristics of febrile children under five and their households

Variables	Number	Percentage (%)
Sex of child
Male	19,748	51.0
Female	18,948	49.0
Age of child (months)
0–12	8988	23.2
13–24	9670	25.0
25–36	7655	19.8
37–48	6851	17.7
49–60	5532	14.3
Age of mother (years)
15–19	2374	6.1
20–29	18,798	48.6
30–39	14,049	36.3
40–49	3474	9.0
Mother and her partner’s highest level of education
No education	12,896	33.3
Primary	14,215	36.7
Secondary	9425	24.4
Higher	2159	5.6
Wealth quintile
Lowest	10,031	25.9
Second	9151	23.6
Middle	7812	20.2
Fourth	6698	17.3
Highest	5002	12.9
Number of children in the household
1	11,711	30.3
2	15,851	41.0
3 +	11,133	28.8
Residence type
Rural	29,199	75.5
Urban	9497	24.5
Season
Dry	27,556	71.2
Rainy	11,139	28.8
Year
2016	8998	23.3
2017	11,086	28.7
2018	18,611	48.1
Facility type
Public hospital	1965	9.1
Public PHC facility^a	13,354	62.1
Private hospital	2331	10.8
Private PHC facility	3866	18.0

Data source: Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) and Malaria Indicators Surveys (MIS) in 2016–2018
Detailed country and wave information is presented in Additional file 1: Table S1. All estimates were calculated with survey weights (n = 38,695). Due to rounding, numbers may not total 38,695, and percentages may not total 100
PHC primary health care
^aSample: Febrile children under five who were taken to only one health facility except for the facility that was recorded as “other” in Demographic Health Surveys and Malaria Indicators Surveys (n = 21,517)

ISSN: 2049-9957