Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 6;23(1):225.
doi: 10.1186/s12887-023-04033-x.

Acute lower respiratory infections among children under five in Sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review of prevalence and risk factors

Jacob Owusu Sarfo  1 , Mustapha Amoadu  2 , Thomas Boateng Gyan  1 , Abdul-Ganiyu Osman  1 , Peace Yaa Kordorwu  1 , Abdul Karim Adams  1 , Immanuel Asiedu  1 , Edward Wilson Ansah  1 , Forster Amponsah-Manu  3 , Priscilla Ofosu-Appiah  3
Affiliations

Acute lower respiratory infections among children under five in Sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review of prevalence and risk factors

Jacob Owusu Sarfo et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRTIs) among children under five are still the leading cause of mortality among this group of children in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This scoping review aims to map evidence on prevalence and risk factors associated with ALRTIs among children under 5 years to inform interventions, policies and future studies.

Methods: A thorough search was conducted via four main databases (PubMed, JSTOR, Web of Science and Central). In all, 3,329 records were identified, and 107 full-text studies were considered for evaluation after vigorous screening and removing duplicates, of which 43 were included in this scoping review.

Findings: Findings indicate a high prevalence (between 1.9% to 60.2%) of ALRTIs among children under five in SSA. Poor education, poverty, malnutrition, exposure to second-hand smoke, poor ventilation, HIV, traditional cooking stoves, unclean fuel usage, poor sanitation facilities and unclean drinking water make children under five more vulnerable to ALRTIs in SSA. Also, health promotion strategies like health education have doubled the health-seeking behaviours of mothers of children under 5 years against ALRTIs.

Conclusion: ALRTIs among children under five still present a significant disease burden in SSA. Therefore, there is a need for intersectoral collaboration to reduce the burden of ALRTIs among children under five by strengthening poverty alleviation strategies, improving living conditions, optimising child nutrition, and ensuring that all children have access to clean water. There is also the need for high-quality studies where confounding variables in ALRTIs are controlled.

Keywords: Acute lower respiratory infection; Children under five; Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram of articles on ALRTIs among children under five in SSA
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Study designs of included studies on ALRTIs among children under five in SSA
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Countries included studies on ALRTIs among children under five in SSA
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Studies based on objectives of the review on ALRTIs among children under five in SSA
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Paramothayan S. Essential respiratory medicine. Wiley; 2019.
    1. Perin J, Mulick A, Yeung D, Villavicencio F, Lopez G, Strong KL, et al. Global, regional, and national causes of under-5 mortality in 2000–19: an updated systematic analysis with implications for the Sustainable Development Goals. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2022;6:106–115. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(21)00311-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO. Pneumonia. Pneumonia 2021. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/pneumonia (Accessed 20 July 2022).
    1. UNICEF. Pneumonia in Children Statistics 2021. https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-health/pneumonia/ (Accessed 20 July 2022).
    1. Sitthikarnkha P, Uppala R, Niamsanit S, Sutra S, Thepsuthammarat K, Techasatian L, et al. Epidemiology of acute lower respiratory tract infection hospitalisations in Thai children: a 5-year national data analysis. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2022;16:142–150. doi: 10.1111/irv.12911. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances