Health literacy and household financial loss on malaria treatment for children under five in Ghana : a patients' perspective
Ofori Boateng, Millicent ; Asuman, Derek LU
; Kugbey, Nuworza
; Amoah, Padmore Adusei
; Agyei-Baffour, Peter
and Enemark, Ulrika
(2025)
In International Health
17(1).
p.77-83
- Abstract
Background: Inadequate health literacy increases medical costs and leads to poor health outcomes. However, there is a paucity of empirical evidence of such associations in sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigates how the household cost of malaria in children under five in Ghana varies based on different levels of health literacy. Methods: A cross-sectional survey involving 1270 caregivers of children under five was conducted. The survey included health literacy questionnaire and several pieces of sociodemographic and behavioural variables. Results: We created seven caregiver health literacy profiles by scoring nine dimensions. The mean total cost for managing malaria among respondents was US$20.29 per episode. The total household... (More)
Background: Inadequate health literacy increases medical costs and leads to poor health outcomes. However, there is a paucity of empirical evidence of such associations in sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigates how the household cost of malaria in children under five in Ghana varies based on different levels of health literacy. Methods: A cross-sectional survey involving 1270 caregivers of children under five was conducted. The survey included health literacy questionnaire and several pieces of sociodemographic and behavioural variables. Results: We created seven caregiver health literacy profiles by scoring nine dimensions. The mean total cost for managing malaria among respondents was US$20.29 per episode. The total household cost for caregivers with high health literacy (Profile 1) (US$24.77) was higher than all other profiles, with the lowest cost (US$17.93) among the low health literacy profile (Profile 6). Compared with Profile 4, caregivers with high health literacy (Profile 1) spent more on managing malaria in children, while those with the lowest health literacy (Profile 7) spent less. Conclusion: The current study presents a snapshot of malaria treatment costs, and argues that low health literacy may lead to increased costs due to possible reinfections from delayed healthcare use. There is a need for longitudinal studies to understand causal relationship between health literacy and household expenses on malaria treatment to inform policy development and interventions. Lay Summary: This study explores the impact of caregiver health literacy levels on the cost of managing malaria incidents in children under five in Ghana. High health-literate caregivers incurred the highest total household cost at US$24.77, with US$17.93 incurred by lower health-literate caregivers per malaria episode.
(Less)
- author
- Ofori Boateng, Millicent
; Asuman, Derek
LU
; Kugbey, Nuworza
; Amoah, Padmore Adusei
; Agyei-Baffour, Peter
and Enemark, Ulrika
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- caregivers, children, health literacy, household cost, malaria
- in
- International Health
- volume
- 17
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 7 pages
- publisher
- Oxford University Press
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:38563469
- scopus:85208493964
- ISSN
- 1876-3413
- DOI
- 10.1093/inthealth/ihae022
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 96a806ca-214e-45c8-981a-0601cf71dbbb
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-12 08:36:13
- date last changed
- 2026-01-13 03:29:28
@article{96a806ca-214e-45c8-981a-0601cf71dbbb,
abstract = {{<p>Background: Inadequate health literacy increases medical costs and leads to poor health outcomes. However, there is a paucity of empirical evidence of such associations in sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigates how the household cost of malaria in children under five in Ghana varies based on different levels of health literacy. Methods: A cross-sectional survey involving 1270 caregivers of children under five was conducted. The survey included health literacy questionnaire and several pieces of sociodemographic and behavioural variables. Results: We created seven caregiver health literacy profiles by scoring nine dimensions. The mean total cost for managing malaria among respondents was US$20.29 per episode. The total household cost for caregivers with high health literacy (Profile 1) (US$24.77) was higher than all other profiles, with the lowest cost (US$17.93) among the low health literacy profile (Profile 6). Compared with Profile 4, caregivers with high health literacy (Profile 1) spent more on managing malaria in children, while those with the lowest health literacy (Profile 7) spent less. Conclusion: The current study presents a snapshot of malaria treatment costs, and argues that low health literacy may lead to increased costs due to possible reinfections from delayed healthcare use. There is a need for longitudinal studies to understand causal relationship between health literacy and household expenses on malaria treatment to inform policy development and interventions. Lay Summary: This study explores the impact of caregiver health literacy levels on the cost of managing malaria incidents in children under five in Ghana. High health-literate caregivers incurred the highest total household cost at US$24.77, with US$17.93 incurred by lower health-literate caregivers per malaria episode.</p>}},
author = {{Ofori Boateng, Millicent and Asuman, Derek and Kugbey, Nuworza and Amoah, Padmore Adusei and Agyei-Baffour, Peter and Enemark, Ulrika}},
issn = {{1876-3413}},
keywords = {{caregivers; children; health literacy; household cost; malaria}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{77--83}},
publisher = {{Oxford University Press}},
series = {{International Health}},
title = {{Health literacy and household financial loss on malaria treatment for children under five in Ghana : a patients' perspective}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/inthealth/ihae022}},
doi = {{10.1093/inthealth/ihae022}},
volume = {{17}},
year = {{2025}},
}