Catastrophic Healthcare Expenditures and Household Poverty in Kenya: The Case of Cancer, Hypertension, and Diabetes

Abstract

It is estimated that non-communicable diseases account for 27% of all deaths suffered by Kenyans, equivalent to almost 100,000 people per year. Kenya is experiencing an upsurge in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with current estimates showing that NCDs account for a third of the disease burden. This promoted the basis of the study to examine the effects of catastrophic healthcare expenditures due to cancer, hypertension, and diabetes on household poverty in Kenya. The study used the latest Kenya Household Health Expenditure and Utilization Survey (KHHEUS) 2018 dataset. Data analysis was undertaken by employing STATA Software. A significance level of p of <0.05 was used. The results indicated catastrophic health expenditure, education level, working status, household size, and locality are significant determinants of household poverty. The presence of chronic illnesses such as hypertension, cancer, and diabetes increases the probability of being poor as a result of high out-of-pocket expenditures. It was noted that the households with catastrophic health expenditure of 40 percent and above are classified to be poor. The study recommended that the reliance on out-of-pocket expenses to finance medical services needs to be reduced because it leads to catastrophic health expenditures even as the country gears towards universal healthcare coverage. County governments are encouraged to be innovative in trying to come up with social health insurance schemes to lessen the burden of financing NCDs.

Keywords: Catastrophic healthcare expenditures, out of pocket expenditures, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, household poverty, Kenya

DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-16-09

Publication date:August 31^st 2021