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Poverty-related diseases (PRDs): unravelling complexities in disease responses in Cameroon

Overview of attention for article published in Tropical Medicine and Health, January 2017
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Title
Poverty-related diseases (PRDs): unravelling complexities in disease responses in Cameroon
Published in
Tropical Medicine and Health, January 2017
DOI 10.1186/s41182-016-0042-5
Pubmed ID
Authors

Valerie Makoge, Harro Maat, Lenneke Vaandrager, Maria Koelen

Abstract

In Cameroon, poverty-related diseases (PRDs) are a major public health concern. Research and policies addressing PRDs are based on a particular understanding of the interaction between poverty and disease, usually an association between poverty indicators and health indicators for a specific country or region. Such indicators are useful but fail to explain the nature of the linkages between poverty and disease or poverty and health. This paper presents results of a study among university students, unravelling how they perceive diseases, the linkages with poverty, their responses to diseases and the motivations behind reported responses. Based on the health belief model, this cross-sectional study was carried out among 272 students at the universities of Buea and Yaoundé in Cameroon. Data were collected using questionnaires containing items matching the research objectives. The questionnaires were self-completed. Malaria was considered as the most common disease perceived and also a major PRD. Contrary to official rankings of HIV/AIDS and TB, cholera and diarrhoea were considered as other major PRDs. Also, typhoid fever was perceived to be more common and a PRD than HIV/AIDS and TB combined. The most prominently attributed cause for disease was (lack of) hygiene. In response, students deployed formal and/or informal healthcare strategies, depending on factors like available money, perceived severity of the disease and disease type. Discrepancies were observed in respondents' response to diseases generally and to malaria in particular. Even though, overall, respondents pre-dominantly reported a formal healthcare response toward diseases in general, for malaria, informal responses dominated. There was an overall strong awareness and (pro)activity among students for dealing with diseases. Although the high use of informal facilities and medication for malaria may well be a reason why eradication is problematic, this seems to be a deliberate strategy linked to an awareness of the limitations of the formal health system. In any intervention intended to foster health, it is therefore vital to consider people's perceptions toward diseases and their response strategies. Our results give important leads to health promotion interventions to develop group-specific programs.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 59 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 59 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 13 22%
Student > Bachelor 7 12%
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 12%
Researcher 4 7%
Student > Doctoral Student 3 5%
Other 6 10%
Unknown 19 32%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 14 24%
Nursing and Health Professions 12 20%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 2 3%
Engineering 2 3%
Social Sciences 2 3%
Other 7 12%
Unknown 20 34%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 29 January 2017.
All research outputs
#16,047,334
of 25,374,647 outputs
Outputs from Tropical Medicine and Health
#206
of 441 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#243,271
of 423,779 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Tropical Medicine and Health
#3
of 4 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,374,647 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 34th percentile – i.e., 34% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 441 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 50% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 423,779 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 40th percentile – i.e., 40% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 4 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one.