Conference Abstract | Volume 9 (ConfPro8): Abstract 27 | Published: 06 Oct 2026
David Ngmenbelle1,&, Stephen Nimirkpen2
1Independent Researcher and Data Consultant, Kumasi, Ghana; 2Upper West Regional Health Directorate, Wa, Ghana
&Corresponding author: David Ngmenbelle, Independent Researcher and Data Consultant, Kumasi, Ghana, Email: ngmenbelledavid@gmail.com, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8485-0170
Received: 11 Mar 2026, Accepted: 28 Aug 2026, Published: 06 Oct 2026
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Refugee children, displaced population, hmanitarian aid, firth logistic regression, Uganda
©David Ngmenbelle et al Journal of Interventional Epidemio.logy and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: David Ngmenbelle et al., Prevalence and factors associated with malaria infection among refugee children aged 6-59 months in Uganda. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfPro8):27. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO8-0027
Refugee children are more vulnerable to malaria infection due to displacement, inadequate living conditions, and barriers to accessing preventive health services. Yet, national evidence on malaria burden and associated factors among refugee populations in Uganda is limited. This study examines the prevalence and factors associated with malaria infection among refugee children in Uganda.
A secondary analysis was performed on refugee children aged 6–59 months using survey-weighted logistic regression and Firth penalised logistic regression to identify the factors that are associated with malaria infection. Malaria infection was determined using malaria rapid diagnostic testing.
Of 394 refugee children, the prevalence of malaria infection was 15.6%. This varied across household and sociodemographic characteristics, with higher prevalence observed among children from households with lower maternal education, poor housing conditions, and limited malaria prevention coverage. In the survey-weighted analysis, children whose mothers had no formal education had higher odds of malaria infection compared with those whose mothers had at least primary education (aOR = 2.54, 95% CI: 1.54–4.18). Children living in households with unimproved roofing materials had increased odds of malaria infection (aOR = 4.71, 95% CI: 1.83–12.11). Conversely, children from households that received indoor residual spraying in the previous 12 months had lower odds of malaria infection (aOR = 0.10, 95% CI: 0.01–0.92). The Firth regression analysis showed similar results, confirming the associations with maternal education, roofing materials, and indoor residual spraying.
Malaria infection remains prevalent among refugee children in Uganda. malaria infection is associated with lower maternal education, unimproved roofing materials, and lack of indoor residual spraying. Strengthening indoor residual spraying programmes, improving housing conditions, and enhancing caregiver education may contribute to reducing malaria burden among refugee children.
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