Economic costs of fever to households in the middle belt of Ghana

Malaria Journal

Research

Emmanuel Mahama¹  Kwaku Poku Asante¹  Seeba Amenga-Etego¹  Anthony Kwarteng¹  Livesy Abokyi¹  Rebecca Akua Dwommoh¹  Seth Owusu-Agyei¹  Theresa Tawiah¹  Stephaney Gyaase¹  Kristian Hansen²  Patricia Akweongo³ 

[1] Kintampo Health Research Centre, P. O. Box 200, Kintampo, Ghana;London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, WC1E7HT, London, UK;School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana;

关键词: Malaria;    Treatment-seeking behaviour;    Direct cost;    Indirect cost;    Kintampo;    Ghana;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12936-016-1116-x

 received in 2015-06-03, accepted in 2016-01-21,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMalaria is one of the main health problems in the sub-Saharan Africa accounting for approximately 198 million morbidity and close to 600,000 mortality cases. Households incur out-of-pocket expenditure for treatment and lose income as a result of not being able to work or care for family members. The main objective of this survey was to assess the economic cost of treating malaria and/or fever with the new ACT to households in the Kintampo districts of Ghana where a health and demographic surveillance systems (KHDSS) are set up to document population dynamics.MethodsThe study was a cross-sectional survey conducted from October 2009 to July 2011 using community members’ accessed using KHDSS population in the Kintampo area. An estimated sample size of 4226 was randomly selected from the active members of the KHDSS. A structured questionnaire was administered to the selected populates who reported of fever within the last 2 weeks prior to the visit. Data was collected on treatment-seeking behaviour, direct and indirect costs of malaria from the patient perspective.ResultsOf the 4226 households selected, 947 households with 1222 household members had fever out of which 92 % sought treatment outside home; 55 % of these were females. 31.6 % of these patients sought care from chemical shops. A mean amount of GHS 4.2 (US$2.76) and GHS 18.0 (US$11.84) were incurred by households as direct and indirect cost respectively. On average a household incurred a total cost of GHS 22.2 (US$14.61) per patient per episode. Total economic cost was lowest for those in the highest quintile and highest for those in the middle quintile.ConclusionThe total cost of treating fever/malaria episode is relatively high in the study area considering the poverty levels in Ghana. The NHIS has positively influenced health-seeking behaviours and reduced the financial burden of seeking care for those that are insured.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Tawiah et al. 2016