Volume 62, Issue 342, September - December 2026

Costs and Evolution of Malaria Care in Kisangani, Tshopo Province, The Democratic Republic of Congo from 2020 to 2023

Aimé Bulaya Botchaka¹, Nono Bulaya Mapesa², Rukia Barumbi Akwabela², Raymond Assani Ramazani¹, Charles Kayembe Tshilumba³

¹Management of Health Organizations Department, Higher Institute of Medical Techniques of Kisangani, The Democratic Republic of Congo
²Department of Commercial and Financial Sciences, Higher Commerce Institute of Kisangani, The Democratic Republic of Congo
³Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kisangani, The Democratic Republic of Congo

ABSTRACT

The fight against malaria has reached a worrying stagnation in achieving the objectives of the WHO Global Technical Strategy (2016-2030), amid particularly marked underfunding in the DRC. In Kisangani, the equatorial climate and the lack of sanitation contribute to intense and continuous transmission of malaria, which means that the cost of the disease places a heavy burden on households. This study aims to analyze the cost and trends in malaria-related medical care in Kisangani hospitals in order to assess the economic impact of malaria on health care systems. To this end, it adopts a retrospective descriptive approach with analytical aims, focusing on 2,968 patients. The data were analyzed using SPSS v27 software (means, medians, standard deviations, ANOVA, and Tukey). The results show that the affected subjects have a mean age of 27 years, with a predominance of adults (65.9%) and students (47.9%). The general referral hospitals of Mangobo (38.5%) and Tshopo (27.6%) recorded the highest number of cases. The average cost of care was 64,075 CDF, primarily due to medication (43,701 CDF, or 68%). Significant differences were observed between hospitals. The annual trend in the number of cases was irregular, peaking in 2021 (917 cases), followed by a decrease until 2023 (687 cases). Therefore, there is a significant difference in the cost of care between the years covered by the study. The differences in average costs between years were not due to chance (F = 51.905; p < 0.001). These results demonstrate how malaria represents a significant and direct economic burden for households in Kisangani, particularly due to the cost of medication.

Keywords: Costs, Evolution, Malaria, Care, Kisangani

Discovery, 2026, 62, e32d3343

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Published: 18 October 2026