Publication:

Risk and determinants of catastrophic health expenditure among rural households in rivers state

Background Concerns about how the expense of healthcare impacts rural families' ability to pay their bills are rising, especially in environments where prepayment systems are inadequate and people pay cash while using health services. This research evaluated the method of payment, frequency, and contributing factors of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) among rural inhabitants of Rivers State.

Methods This retrospective longitudinal study was conducted among 450 inhabitants in six rural communities in Rivers State. The participants were chosen using a multistage sampling process. A validated semi-structured questionnaire which was interviewer administered was used to obtain the data. IBM statistical package for the social sciences version 25 was used to analyze the data. Data were summarized using means, frequency, and proportions while bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression were used to explore determinants of CHE with p≤0.05 considered statistically significant.

Results The result showed that 94.9% of rural households pay for health care via out-of-pocket payment and 88.4% rural residents experience catastrophic health payment. Household income of less than N100,000 (AOR=2.8, 95% C.I.=1.4-5.4, p=0.002) and having two or more dependents (AOR=3.3, 95% C.I.=1.3-8.0 p=0.002) were determinants of CHE.

Conclusions There is need to increase public funding for healthcare as well as expand the coverage of the NHIS to mitigate the effect of health care cost on rural residents in Rivers State.