African Microeconomic Research | 10 May 2007
Urban Slums' Community Health Worker Programmes Reduce Child Malaria Cases in Zambia: A Six-Month Impact Analysis
C, h, i, l, u, f, y, a, C, h, i, s, a, l, a
Abstract
Urban slums in Zambia face significant challenges in accessing healthcare services, particularly for pediatric malaria cases. A quasi-experimental design was employed with pre- and post-intervention assessments to measure changes in malaria incidence among children under five years old. Data were collected from randomly selected households within the study area. CHW interventions resulted in a statistically significant 25% reduction in child malaria cases (p < 0.01) compared to control areas, with an estimated confidence interval of -38% to -9%. Community health worker programmes appear effective in mitigating pediatric malaria in urban slums of Zambia, warranting further implementation and evaluation. Scaling up CHW initiatives and integrating them into existing healthcare systems could be beneficial for improving child health outcomes in Zambian urban settings. Child Malaria, Community Health Workers, Urban Slums, Impact Evaluation Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p<em>i)=\beta</em>0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.