scholarly journals Patterns of African Healthcare Funding: Investment Implications for Public-Private Partnerships

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-73
Author(s):  
Oluwakemi Edet Utan

The Coronavirus Global Pandemic Now Poses Additional Peril To The Already Burdened Healthcare Systems With Inadequate Funding In Africa. This Paper Attempts To Present The Funding Patterns For Healthcare In Nigeria, Congo, Tanzania, Egypt, And South Africa. It Also Explored Investor Opportunities For Lowering OOPs And Increasing Investor Profits. Data Were Drawn From The WHO, The World Bank, And World Charts Databases. Government Health Expenditure Was Far Below What Individuals And Families Pay From Out-Of-Pocket Payments (OOPs) For Healthcare Services Except In South Africa, Where OOP Accounts For Only 8%. Contrary To Popular Notion, Donation Funds Or Foreign Aid For Healthcare Accounts For A Lower Percentage Of Total Healthcare Expenditure In The Countries Under Consideration. Households Mostly Bore The Healthcare Expenditure Burden (Nigeria’s OOPs Of 77%, Congo- 48%, And Egypt- 60%). Averagely, Nigeria And Congo Only Spent About 3% Of Their National Budget On Healthcare. In Comparison, Tanzania And Egypt Spent An Average Of 4% And 5% (South Africa-8%) Between 2010 And 2017, Reflecting Low-Risk Protection For Households. Specific Aspects For Investments Through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) Reviewed In This Paper Should Include Designing Innovative Financing Models Focusing On Risk Pooling Mechanisms To Help Bridge The Funding Gap, Local Production, And Manufacture Of Pharmaceuticals And Healthcare Equipment At This Time, Instead Of Importation. Investors Can, Therefore, Take Advantage Of The Various Initiatives Outlined In This Paper To Achieve Better Health Outcomes In Africa.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraha Woldemichael ◽  
Satar Rezaei ◽  
Ali Kazemi Karyani ◽  
Mohammad Ebrahimi ◽  
Shahin Soltani ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Dental healthcare is the costliest and single most source of the financial barrier to seeking and use of needed healthcare. Hence, this study aims to analyses impact of out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for dental services on prevalence catastrophic healthcare expenditure (CHE) among Iranian households during 2018. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis to determine the prevalence rate of CHE due to use of dental healthcare services among 38,858 Iranian households using the 2018 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) survey data of Iran. The WHO approach was used to determine the CHE due to use of dental care services at the 40% of household capacity to pay (CTP). Multiple logistic regression models were used to obtain the odds of facing with CHE among households that paid for any dental healthcare services over the last month while adjusting for covariates included in the model. These findings were reported for urban, rural areas and also for low, middle and high human development index HDI across provinces. Results The study indicated that the prevalence of CHE among households that used and did not used dental services over the last month was 16.5% (95% CI: 14.9 to 18.3) and 4.3% (95% CI: 4.1 to 4.6), respectively. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for the covariates revealed that the prevalence of CHE for the overall households that used dental healthcare service was 6.2 times (95% CI: 5.4 to 7.1) than those that did not use dental healthcare services. The urban households that used dental healthcare had 7.8 times (95%CI: 6.4–9.4) while the rural ones had 4.7 times (95% CI: 3.7–5.7) higher odds of facing CHE than the corresponding households that did not use dental healthcare services. Conclusions The study indicates that out-of-pocket costs for dental care services impose a substantial financial burden on household’s budgets at the national and subnational levels. Alternative health care financing strategies and policies targeted to the reduction in CHE in general and CHE due to dental services in particular are urgently required in low and middle income countries such as Iran.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-460
Author(s):  
Mohd Imran Khan ◽  
Valatheeswaran C.

The inflow of international remittances to Kerala has been increasing over the last three decades. It has increased the income of recipient households and enabled them to spend more on human capital investment. Using data from the Kerala Migration Survey-2010, this study analyses the impact of remittance receipts on the households’ healthcare expenditure and access to private healthcare in Kerala. This study employs an instrumental variable approach to account for the endogeneity of remittances receipts. The empirical results show that remittance income has a positive and significant impact on households’ healthcare expenditure and access to private healthcare services. After disaggregating the sample into different heterogeneous groups, this study found that remittances have a greater effect on lower-income households and Other Backward Class (OBC) households but not Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) households, which remain excluded from reaping the benefit of international migration and remittances.


BMC Nursing ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Salazar-Austin ◽  
Minja Milovanovic ◽  
Nora S. West ◽  
Molefi Tladi ◽  
Grace Link Barnes ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Tuberculosis is a top-10 cause of under-5 mortality, despite policies promoting tuberculosis preventive therapy (TPT). We previously conducted a cluster randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of symptom-based versus tuberculin skin-based screening on child TPT uptake. Symptom-based screening did not improve TPT uptake and nearly two-thirds of child contacts were not identified or not linked to care. Here we qualitatively explored healthcare provider perceptions of factors that impacted TPT uptake among child contacts. Methods Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with key informants including healthcare providers and administrators who participated in the trial in Matlosana, South Africa. The participants’ experience with symptom-based screening, study implementation strategies, and ongoing challenges with child contact identification and linkage to care were explored. Interviews were systematically coded and thematic content analysis was conducted. Results Participants’ had mixed opinions about symptom-based screening and high acceptability of the study implementation strategies. A key barrier to optimizing child contact screening and evaluation was the supervision and training of community health workers. Conclusions Symptom screening is a simple and effective strategy to evaluate child contacts, but additional pediatric training is needed to provide comfort with decision making. New clinic-based child contact files were highly valued by providers who continued to use them after trial completion. Future interventions to improve child contact management will need to address how to best utilize community health workers in identifying and linking child contacts to care. Trial registration The results presented here were from research related to NCT03074799, retrospectively registered on 9 March 2017.


Author(s):  
Theodoros V. Giannouchos ◽  
Benjamin Ukert ◽  
Athanassios Vozikis ◽  
Evangelia Steletou ◽  
Kyriakos Souliotis

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Brantina Chirinda ◽  
Mdutshekelwa Ndlovu ◽  
Erica Spangenberg

The COVID-19 global pandemic widely affected education across the world and engendered unprecedented scenarios that required expeditious responses. In South Africa, the pandemic came on top of pre-existing inequalities in the education system. Using a qualitative research method of exploratory and descriptive nature, this study engaged a social justice framework to explore the teaching and learning of mathematics during the COVID-19 lockdown in a context of historical disadvantage. A sample of twenty-three Grade 12 mathematics teachers at various public secondary schools in Gauteng, South Africa was used in the study. The teachers were selected through purposive sampling. A Google-generated open-ended questionnaire and follow-up telephonic interviews were used to collect data. Data were analysed thematically in five steps. The findings revealed that the WhatsApp platform is a valuable tool that can support the teaching and learning of mathematics beyond the classroom in the contexts of historical disadvantage. The findings also provided insights into how mathematics teachers became learners themselves during emergency remote teaching (ERT) as they had to adapt to digital teaching, find solutions to unfamiliar problems and acquire knowledge from a larger mathematics education community around the globe. The article discusses these findings and teachers’ challenges of transitioning from traditional face-to-face classrooms to ERT and how they were addressed. At the time of publishing the article, most learners in South Africa had started going to school on a rotational basis. Nonetheless, the study reported in this article is of importance as ERT in the context of historical disadvantage has foregrounded issues of inequality in the South African education system that must be dealt with urgently.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeed Asefzadeh ◽  
Bahman Ahadi Nezhad ◽  
Saeed Norouzi

Background: Out-of-pocket payment encompasses the costs that patients pay for healthcare services, which is an inefficient approach to healthcare financing as it may lead to poverty. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the risk of catastrophic health expenditures due to non-medical costs in the outpatients in Qazvin, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted on 341 outpatients referring to the internists of Velayat Hospital and Bu-Ali Sina Hospital in Qazvin. The required data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire and the prescriptions of the patients. Out-of-pocket payments were defined as the direct medical and non-medical costs within one month. Results: The mean out-of-pocket payments of the patients in one month was 49.97 dollars, 75.8% of which covered direct medical cost (disease diagnosis and treatment), and 24.2% covered direct non-medical costs to receive health services. The highest out-of-pocket payments were for diagnostic/laboratory tests (50.3%), medications (21.5%), and transportation (18.2%). In addition, the exposure rate to catastrophic expenditures was estimated at 31%, and the patients with lower income had less exposure compared to those without incomes. Conclusions: According to the results, direct non-medical costs were associated with the increased out-of-pocket payments of the patients, which in turn led to the higher rates of catastrophic expenditures.


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