Healthcare Articles
Household perceptions and their implications for enrolment in the National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana
Objective This paper identifies, ranks and compares perceptions of insured and uninsured households in Ghana on health care providers (quality of care, service delivery adequacy, staff attitudes), health insurance schemes (price, benefits and convenience) and community attributes (health ‘beliefs and attitudes’ and peer pressure). In addition, it explores the association of these perceptions with household decisions to voluntarily enrol and remain in insurance schemes.
Methods First, data from a household survey of 3301 households and 13 865 individuals were analysed using principal component analysis to evaluate respondents’ perceptions. Second, percentages of maximum attainable scores were computed for each cluster of perception factors to rank them according to their relative importance. Third, a multinomial logistic regression was run to determine the association of identified perceptions on enrolment.
Results Our study demonstrates that scheme factors have the strongest association with voluntary enrolment and retention decisions in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Specifically these relate to benefits, convenience and price of NHIS. At the same time, while households had positive perceptions with regards to technical quality of care, benefits of NHIS, convenience of NHIS administration and had appropriate community health beliefs and attitudes, they were negative about the price of NHIS, provider attitudes and peer pressure. The uninsured were more negative than the insured about benefits, convenience and price of NHIS.
Conclusions Perceptions related to providers, schemes and community attributes play an important role, albeit to a varying extent in household decisions to voluntarily enrol and remain enrolled in insurance schemes. Scheme factors are of key importance. Policy makers need to recognize household perceptions as potential barriers or enablers to enrolment and invest in understanding them in their design of interventions to stimulate enrolment.
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The National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme was introduced in Ghana in 2004 as a pro-poor financing strategy aimed at removing financial barriers to health care and protecting all citizens from catastrophic health expenditures, which currently arise due to user fees and other direct payments. A comprehensive assessment of the financing and benefit incidence of health services in Ghana was undertaken. These analyses drew on secondary data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey (2005/2006) and from an additional household survey which collected data in 2008 in six districts covering the three main ecological zones of Ghana. Findings show that Ghana’s health care financing system is progressive, driven largely by the progressivity of taxes. The national health insurance levy (which is part of VAT) is mildly progressive while NHI contributions by the informal sector are regressive. The distribution of total benefits from both public and private health services is pro-rich. However, public sector district-level hospital inpatient care is pro-poor and benefits of primary-level health care services are relatively evenly distributed. For Ghana to attain an equitable health system and fully achieve universal coverage, it must ensure that the poor, most of whom are not currently covered by the NHI, are financially protected, and it must address the many access barriers to health care.
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Objectives Lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) are lagging behind both high-income and low-income countries in new vaccine adoption. Our study involved the following objectives: (1) understand the decision-making processes of LMICs on new vaccine adoption, (2) identify the factors influencing LMIC decisions, (3) obtain the views of vaccine manufacturers about LMIC markets for new vaccines, and (4) make recommendations concerning how to speed up and improve decision making, including proposing mechanisms for implementation of the recommendations.
Methods Collect and analyse qualitative data from participants in decision making in 15 case study countries [12 LMICs and three upper-middle-income countries (UMICs)] and multinational and developing country vaccine manufacturers.
Findings Interviews of actors in decision making indicate that the aspects deemed most important for adoption are: World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, the existence of local epidemiological data and a set of factors comprising affordability, cost-effectiveness and overall cost of the new vaccine for the programme. National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAG) have a key role in advising decision-makers, although their resources and capacity vary. Country decision-makers and manufacturers both see advantages in pooled procurement mechanisms for vaccine purchasing. Recommendations for countries and the international community involve assisting with making epidemiological data and vaccine market information accessible to countries, building and reinforcing related analysis capacity, and assisting with purchasing mechanisms and practices such as pooled procurement.
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