Abstract:
BACKGROUND : Malaria remains a major health and development challenge in the sub-Saharan African economies
including Kenya, yet it can be prevented. Technologies to prevent malaria are available but are not universally
adopted by male- and female-headed households. The study thus, examined the role of gender in malaria prevention,
examining adoption behaviour between male- and female-headed households in Kenya.
METHODS : The study uses a recent baseline cross-section survey data collected from 2718 households in parts of
western and eastern Kenya. Two separate models were estimated for male- and female-headed households to determine
if the drivers of adoption differ between the two categories of households.
RESULTS : The findings from the study show that: access to public health information, residing in villages with higher
experience in malaria prevention, knowledge on the cause and transmission of malaria significantly increase the
number of practices adopted in both male- and female-headed households. On the other hand, formal education of
the household head and livestock units owned exhibited a positive and significant effect on adoption among maleheaded
households, but no effect among female-headed households.
CONCLUSIONS : The findings from thus study suggest that universal policy tools can be used to promote uptake of
integrated malaria prevention practices, for female- and male-headed households.
