Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to identify the factors associated with outpatient expenses incurred by households in Kenya.Background: The problem of outpatient healthcare expenses incurred by citizens in countries with limited resources has received little attention. Thus, this study aimed to determine the predictors of household spending on outpatient expenses in Kenya.Method: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis on households in Kenya using data from the 2018 Kenya Household Health Expenditure and Utilization Survey. We applied the generalized estimating equations method to determine the best subset of predictors of outpatient care cost.Findings: The best predictors of outpatient care expenses in Kenya are age, wealth index, and education level of the household head.Conclusions: There were no differences regarding age in the mean spending on outpatient care. Moreover, we found that the cost of outpatient care changes with age in a sinusoidal manner. We observed that rich households spent more on outpatient care, mostly owing to their financial ability. Households whose heads reported primary or secondary school education level spent less on outpatient costs than households headed by those who never went to school.
Highlights
Kenya is a lower middle-income country (LMIC), it is one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa [1]
Owing to a constrained budget, funds allocated to the healthcare sector remain low [6]
The recent budget allocation of 9.1% to the healthcare sector as a proportion of total government budget [7] is low; this is contrary to the 2001 Abuja Declaration on healthcare in Africa that at least 15% of the budget be allocated to the healthcare sector
Summary
Kenya is a lower middle-income country (LMIC), it is one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. The country continues to strive toward reforming its healthcare system, it faces challenges in the form of financial constraints, high debt [3], a high debt-to-gross domestic product ratio of 70%, weak institutional capacity, and a high unemployment rate [almost 20% [4]], which in turn raises the dependency ratio [5]. Owing to a constrained budget, funds allocated to the healthcare sector remain low [6]. To achieve any substantial advancement, Kenya’s health sector requires comprehensive improvements or even complete reformation [2]. The problem of outpatient healthcare expenses incurred by citizens in countries with limited resources has received little attention. This study aimed to determine the predictors of household spending on outpatient expenses in Kenya
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