BACKGROUND: For the past decades, developing countries have received considerable support to fight infectious illnesses in their homelands. This global effort has tremendously reduced case fatality rates associated with illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in many countries. However, this information is still missing in some developing countries, hindering international effort for control programs; we designed this study in effort to close this gap.

METHODS: Data on 23,487 inpatients from Kinshasa hospitals were gathered and analyzed using EpiData and SPSS. Major illnesses affecting inpatients were identified; mortality and case fatality rates associated with each such illness were estimated. Case fatality rates associated with each illness were compared between consecutive years. Socio demographic and economic factors associated with mortality due to HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria were investigated using logistic regression.

RESULTS: The outstanding findings were that case fatality rates associated with major illnesses were relatively higher in 2008 than in the previous year; inpatients hospitalized for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in 2008 were more likely to die than those hospitalized in the previous year. Low socioeconomic status inpatients hospitalized for malaria, HIV/AIDS or TB were more likely to die than high socioeconomic status inpatients (AOR 0.29, 95% CI 0.22–0.40; AOR 0.20, 95%CI0.12–0.33; AOR 0.33, 95%CI 0.21–0.53), even though both groups presumably had access to free life-saving treatment and care.

CONCLUSION: These results indicate that while improvement in health indicators greatly depends on funds availability and sustainability, these alone might not be enough in resource poor developing countries. Other factors, i.e., population SES also need to be addressed before needed changes may occur.