Willingness to Pay for Clinical Preventive Services of Patients Attending the GENERAL Out-Patient Clinic of a Tertiary Hospital in South-South Nigeria

Seiyefa Brisibe

doi:10.11648/j.ejpm.20150301.12

Abstract

The prevalences of non-communicable diseases in Nigeria are currently close to those of the developed countries, but the uptake of clinical preventive services (CPS) has been very poor. This study assessed the willingness of respondents to pay (WTP) for a packaged CPS, delivered in one service point. The study was conducted among patients attending the general out-patient clinic of a tertiary hospital in Port Harcourt, south-south Nigeria, using a descriptive cross-sectional study design. Data was collected using a semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire, and assessed the respondents’ attitude towards CPS and their WTP for the services, which was determined using the contingent valuation method. A total of 422 questionnaires were administered and analyzed. The respondents had an average age of 36.04 ±1.99 years; majority had at least secondary school education (90.05%), were Christians of Pentecostal denomination (50.95%), self employed (52.13%), with an monthly average income of more than $300 (56.64%). Most (89.57%) of the respondents were willing to pay for CPS; more than a quarter (25.93%) of them were willing to pay the prevailing cost of assessing the services, 33.84% were willing to pay less, while 34.28% were willing to pay more. The monthly income of the respondents significantly affected their willingness to pay for the services (p-value = 0.000).The respondents showed a willingness to pay for packaged CPS, the uptake of the services can therefore be improved, if the cost of the service is subsidized.

Highlights

Non-communicable diseases have significantly increased in Nigeria, as shown by several prevalence studies
The prevalence of diabetes in Nigeria has significantly increased since 1997, from the 0.65% recorded in rural Mangu community and the 11.0% recorded in urban Lagos [1] [2]; and the prevalence of hypertension has increased from 11.2% in the 1990s [1], to 27.9% in 2010, in a rural community in the Niger delta [3], and 44.3% in 2003 in cosmopolitan Lagos [4]
The increase has been recorded in almost all socio-economic groups, including the 42.2% recorded among the market women of Enugu, south-east Nigeria [5]; the 21.33.% recorded among the lecturers of a medical school [6], and the 68.87% recorded amongst the traditional chiefs of an oil-bearing community in south-south Nigeria [7]

Summary

Introduction

Non-communicable diseases have significantly increased in Nigeria, as shown by several prevalence studies. Studies carried out in various tertiary hospitals in Nigeria indicate that more than 60% of the patients admitted into the medical wards were treated for non-communicable diseases [8] [9]; with the diseases responsible for a significant proportion of the deaths recorded in the medical wards [10]. This is even as the monthly expenditure on the treatment of the diseases can be as high as 60% of the family’s total monthly income [11]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion