Catastrophic Health Expenditure and Household Impoverishment: a case of NCDs prevalence in Kenya

<span> </span><p><strong>Introduction and problem: Non</strong><em>-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) have become one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Kenya. Their claim on financial and time resources adversely affects household welfare.</em>&...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Daniel Mwai, Moses Muriithi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Milano University Press 2016-03-01
Series:Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health
Online Access:http://ebph.it/article/view/11519
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Summary:<span> </span><p><strong>Introduction and problem: Non</strong><em>-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) have become one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Kenya. Their claim on financial and time resources adversely affects household welfare.</em><em> Health care cost for NCDs in Kenya is predominantly paid by households as OOP. Health expenditure on NCD stands at 6.2% of Total Health Expenditure which is 0.4 % of the total gross domestic product of the country. This expenditure scenario could have implications on household welfare through catastrophic expenditure in Kenya.</em><em> Most studies done on catastrophic expenditure in Kenya have not looked at the effect of NCD on poverty. </em><strong>Methodology:</strong><em> The paper has investigated the determinants of catastrophic health spending in a household with special focus on the NCDs. It has also investigated the effect of catastrophic expenditure on household welfare</em><em>.A National household level survey data on expenditure and utilization is used. </em><em>Controlling for endogeneity, the results revealed that NCDs and communicable diseases contribute significantly to the likelihood of a household incurring catastrophic expenditure.</em><strong> Results: </strong><em>Although all types of sicknesses have negative effects on household welfare, NCDs have more severe impacts on impoverishment. Policy wise, government and development partners should put in place a health financing plan entailing health insurance and resource pooling as a mean towards social protection.</em></p><span> </span><p align="left"><strong><span>Key words:</span><span>  </span><span>Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD), Catastrophic Health Expenditure, endogeneity Impoverishment<br clear="all" /></span><span> </span></strong></p><span> </span>
ISSN:2282-0930