Malaria Morbidity and Mortality Among Patients Admitted at a Tertiary Hospital in Congo DRC and Their Correlates: a Cross-sectional Study

Background: In the last two decades, there has been tremendous financial support, political will, and commitment to global malaria elimination focusing on endemic areas. This commitment and support have enabled a few countries to eliminate malaria, while others are making remarkable progress towards elimination. Nevertheless, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the status of Roll Back Malaria (RBM) impact indicators is unclear even though the country is one of the high burden malaria countries in the world. The study aimed to determine malaria morbidity and mortality at Kinshasa Referral General Hospital (KRGH) or the status of RBM impact indicators and factors associated with it.Methods: The study recruited 870 patients admitted at the KRGH in 2017 and 2018. Patient distribution by cause of admission was analysed. Malaria morbidity, mortality, and case-fatality-rates were estimated. A logistic regression model using malaria morbidity/mortality as the dependent variable was developed.Results: The morbidity rate was higher in 2018 than in 2017. Mortality and case-fatality-rates were comparable for the two years. Inpatients with low socioeconomic status (SES) were more than twice at risk of malaria morbidity/mortality than inpatients with high SES. The same results were found among city outskirts dwellers vis-a-vis city residents, with city residents faring better. Conclusion: Malaria morbidity and mortality in DRC were still high at the time of the study, affecting mostly people with low SES. Funding policies in the health sector need to be adjusted for DRC to address the current situation. Access to malaria health care services including drugs for low SES communities should be given priority.