期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2004
卷号：101
期号：31
页码：11523-11525
DOI：10.1073/pnas.0400462101
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：We analyze the malarial health behavior of rural populations by using data from the 1999 Demographic and Health Survey for Guinea, West Africa. We find that prior formal health care treatment is associated with heightened malaria prevention behaviors for the poorest uneducated populations in this rural cohort. Individuals from this subgroup that report no history of malarial infection and exclude themselves from health care treatment further appear to be misdiagnosing the disease at a substantial level. We conjecture that the use of formal health care options provides informational exposure to the clinical aspects of malarial pathogenesis. For individuals steeped in the most severe poverty, this exposure appears to have a particularly robust educative effect. The health behavioral dynamics we observe here have putative extensions for regional health policy as well with other infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS.
