'American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene'
Abstract
Recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) indicate a decline in
childhood vaccination coverage but a high prevalence of childhood diarrhea, cough, and fever. We used Nigerian DHS
data to investigate the impact of geographical factors and other important risk factors on diarrhea, cough, and fever using
geoadditive Bayesian semiparametric models. A higher prevalence of childhood diarrhea, cough, and fever is observed
in the northern and eastern states, while lower disease prevalence is observed in the western and southern states. In
addition, children from mothers with higher levels of education and those from poor households had a significantly lower
association with diarrhea; children delivered in hospitals, living in urban areas, or from mothers having received prenatal
visits had a significantly lower association with fever. Our maps are a novel and relevant tool to help local governments
to improve health-care interventions and achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDG4)