Introduction Malaria is global health problem. Ii is endemic in 10 of the 11 member countries of from the WHO South East-Asian Region, including Indonesia. In 2008 there were 2.4 million laboratory confirmed cases and 40 000 deaths from malaria in Indonesia. Based on the Basic Health Census, the national incidence of malaria in 2010 was 22.9 per 1000 population. This study aimed to describe the predictors of malaria occurrence in individuals aged 15 years and over.

Methods Data from the Basic Health Census for 177 920 respondents were analysed using cross-sectional methodology.

Results Multivariate analyses found that age, gender, home wall type, region type, home proximity to rivers, forests or beaches, residence in a high-human density area, proximity to farms or plantations, use of bed nets, use of repellent and chemo-prophylaxis predicted malaria occurrence.

Conclusions The findings from this study support the use of repellent by persons living in high risk areas, and argue for the Ministry of Health to improve coverage of malariologist in rural areas and enhance vector control. Further studies using a case-control design are needed to assess the association and interplay between the various factors.