A review on socio economic and behavioral aspects of malaria and its control among children under 5 years of age in Africa.
Over 40 % of the world’s population is in malaria infested areas. Malaria not only causes illhealth and death but also hampers development due to the fact that lots of resources are spentcombating the disease. Severe malaria impairs children’s learning and cognitive ability by as muchas 60%, consequently affecting the performance primary and secondary education programs.Human behavior much of which is influenced by social, cultural, economic, and political factorsis clearly related to health, including the risk for infectious diseases like malaria. Whether it isintentional or not, human behavior affects health-promoting and disease-preventing activities,in some instances increasing risk and in others reducing it. Beyond human behavior as such,prevalent socio-economic factors including political and economic parameters also contribute toshaping how humans act, and therefore must be seen, in and of themselves, as epidemiologicalpredictors of health and disease patterns.