Creating better access to good quality healthcare for the poor is a major challenge to development. In this study, we examined inter-linkages between poverty and disease, referred to as poverty-related diseases (PRDs), by investigating how Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) camp dwellers respond to diseases that adversely affect their health and wellbeing. Living in plantation camps is associated with poverty, overcrowding, poor sanitation and the rapid spread of diseases. In a survey of 237 CDC camp dwellers in Cameroon, we used the health belief model to understand the drivers (perceived threats, benefits and cues for treatment seeking) of reported responses. Using logistic regression analysis, we looked for trends in people’s response to malaria. We calculated the odds ratio of factors shown to have an influence on people’s health, such as food, water, sanitation challenges and seeking formal healthcare for malaria. Malaria (40.3%), cholera (20.8%) and diarrhoea (17.7%) were the major PRDs perceived by camp dwellers. We found a strong link between what respondents perceived as PRDS and hygiene conditions. Poverty for our respondents was more about living in poor hygiene conditions than lack of money. Respondents perceived health challenges as stemming from their immediate living environment. Moreover, people employed self-medication and other informal health practices to seek healthcare. Interestingly, even though respondents reported using formal healthcare services as a general response to illness (84%), almost 90% stated that, in the case of malaria, they would use informal healthcare services. Our study recommends that efforts to curb the devastating effects of PRDs should have a strong focus on perceptions (i.e. include diseases that people living in conditions of poverty perceive as PRDs) and on hygiene practices, emphasising how they can be improved. By providing insights into the inter-linkages between poverty and disease, our study offers relevant guidance for potentially successful health promotion interventions.

为穷人提供更好的优质医疗服务是发展的主要挑战。在这项研究中，我们通过调查喀麦隆开发公司（CDC）营地居民如何应对不利影响其健康和福祉的疾病，研究了贫困与疾病之间的相互联系，称为贫困相关疾病（PRD）。生活在人工林营地与贫困，人满为患，卫生条件差和疾病的迅速传播有关。在对喀麦隆237个CDC营地居民的调查中，我们使用了健康信念模型来了解所报告反应的驱动因素（感知的威胁，益处和寻求治疗的线索）。使用逻辑回归分析，我们寻找了人们对疟疾反应的趋势。我们计算了显示出对人们健康有影响的因素的比值比，例如食物，水，卫生设施的挑战以及寻求疟疾的正规医疗服务。疟疾（40.3％），霍乱（20.8％）和腹泻（17.7％）是营地居民感知的主要PRD。我们发现受访者认为PRDS与卫生状况之间存在密切的联系。对我们的受访者而言，贫困更多的是生活在不良的卫生环境中，而不是缺乏金钱。受访者认为健​​康挑战源于他们目前的生活环境。此外，人们采用自我服药和其他非正式的健康习惯来寻求医疗保健。有趣的是，尽管受访者报告使用正式的医疗保健服务作为对疾病的一般反应（84％），但几乎90％的受访者表示，在疟疾的情况下，他们将使用非正式的医疗保健服务。我们的研究建议，为减少珠三角的破坏性影响而进行的努力应重点关注观念（即包括生活在贫困条件下的人们认为是珠三角的疾病）和卫生习惯，并强调应如何加以改善。通过提供有关贫困与疾病之间相互联系的见解，我们的研究为潜在成功的健康促进干预措施提供了相关指导。