Individual and contextual factors predicting self-reported malaria among adults in eastern Indonesia: findings from Indonesian community-based survey

Malaria is still an important parasitic infectious disease that affecting poor and vulnerable communities in many developing countries, including Indonesia. During the period of 2010–2017, there have been approximately 2.2 million confirmed malaria cases reported across Indonesia. This study aimed to identify individual, household and village-level factors associated with self-reported malaria among adults more than 15 years of age in Maluku, West Papua and Papua province.

This study analysed a subset of the data from nationally representative population-based Indonesian National Basic Health Research (Riset Kesehatan Dasar) (N = 1,027,763 in 294,959 households in 33 provinces) in 2013. Total of 41,079 individuals (20,326 males and 20,753 females) aged ≥ 15 years in 19,269 households in Maluku, West Papua and Papua provinces were included. Participants were interviewed if they ever had been diagnosed and laboratory confirmed of having malaria by physician in the past 12 months. A mixed effects multilevel logistic regression models were developed to assess the associations between socio-demographical variables at individual, household and village level and self-reported malaria.

Individuals aged ≥ 15 years in 701 villages in Maluku (n = 11,919), West Papua (n = 8003) and Papua (n = 21,157) were analysed. In all provinces, gender distribution was equally-represented. The prevalence of self-reported malaria was 4.1% (Maluku), 12.4% (West Papua) and 18.8% (Papua). At the individual level, primary industry workers (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.15–1.46 [Maluku]; OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.09–1.25 [Papua]) and having higher education were associated with self-reporting malaria (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.53–0.83 [Maluku]; OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.15–1.40 [Papua]). Household level factors include having bed net and better off wealth index were associated with increased self-reporting malaria among West Papua (OR 1.21; 95% CI 1.09–1.34 and OR 1.38; 95% CI 1.17–1.65, respectively) and Papuan (OR 1.12; 95% CI 1.02–1.23 and OR 1.33; 95% CI 1.11–1.57, respectively) adults. Increased odds of self-reporting malaria was associated with time required to reach healthcare facility (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.01–1.67 [Maluku]). Contextual village-level characteristics such as living in rural (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.12–1.54 [Maluku]; OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.17–2.07 [West Papua]), higher community education level (OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.02–1.63 [West Papua]; OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.23–1.72 [Papua]), higher community bed net ownerships (OR 0.59 95% CI 0.45–0.77 [West Papua]) were associated with self-reported malaria.

Factors associated with self-reported malaria were varied between provinces suggesting locally-specific determinants were exist at individual, household and community-level. This study highlights the need for specific interventions by taking into consideration the contextual factors within the region and involving multi-sectoral collaboration between health authorities and related stakeholders (e.g., bureau of education, bureau of public works and infrastructure) to improve designs in planning and intervention strategies to succesfully eliminate malaria in Maluku and Papua.