ArticleBMC public health2023
The financial burden of out of pocket payments on medicines among households in Ethiopia: analysis of trends and contributing factors.
Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Out-of-pocket expenditure on medicine for chronic patients and its economic impact on Indian households: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- A machine learning analysis of perceived healthcare access barriers among women of reproductive age in Sub-Saharan Africa: using demographic and health surveys.AJOG global reports · 2026Article
- Patient Satisfaction With Auditable Pharmaceutical Transactions and Services: A Cross-Sectional Study at Bule Hora University Teaching Hospital, Ethiopia.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Contribution of Medication Expenditures to Catastrophic Health Expenditures in Iran: An Inequality Analysis.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2026Article
- Local systems, local solutions: which factors drive essential medicine availability in public health facilities across Indonesia?BMJ global health · 2026Article
- "We Do Not Seem to Have Geriatric Wards": A Qualitative Analysis of Gaps in Healthcare Access Among Older Patients in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Inequity in access to medications among communities in Eastern Ethiopia: a decomposition analysis.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Exploring the facilitators and barriers to achieving universal health coverage in Uganda: a qualitative study of the free healthcare policy.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Futurology of the Situation of Public Hospitals in Iran Until 2032 : Futurology of the Situation of Public Hospitals in Iran until 2032.Galen medical journal · 2025Article
- Availability, price and affordability of essential medicines for managing cardiovascular disease in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Assessing the prevalence of unused medicines at home and associated factors: a community-based cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Global health 2050: the path to halving premature death by mid-century.Lancet (London, England) · 2024Review
- Persistency of catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditures: Measurement with evidence from three African countries - Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
- Pakistan's path to universal health coverage: national and regional insights.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- Do hospitalizations push households into poverty in India: evidence from national data.F1000Research · 2024Article
- Exploring Factors Influencing Family's Enrollment in Community-Based Health Insurance in the City of Gondar Peri-Urban Community, Northwest Ethiopia: A Health Belief Model Approach.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2024Article
- Determinants of out-of-pocket expenditure on medicines among adults in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
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2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
backgroundIn Ethiopia, out-of-pocket (OOP) payment is the key means of healthcare financing, and expenses on medicines are a crucial component of such payment. This study aims to investigate the financial implications of OOP payments on medicines for Ethiopian households.
methodsThe study involved a secondary data analysis of the national household consumption and expenditure surveys of 2010/11 and 2015/16. The "capacity-to-pay" method was used to calculate catastrophic OOP medicine expenditures. The extent of economic status related to catastrophic medicine payment inequity was calculated using concentration index estimation. The impoverishment consequences of OOP payment on medicine were estimated using poverty headcount and poverty gap analysis methods. Logistic regression models were used to identify the variables that predict catastrophic medicine payments.
resultsMedicines accounted for the majority of healthcare spending (> 65%) across the surveys. From 2010 to 2016, the total percentage of households facing catastrophic medicine payments decreased from 1% to 0.73%. However, the actual number of people expected to have experienced catastrophic medicine payments increased from 399,174 to 401,519 people. Payment for medicines pushed 11,132 households into poverty in 2015/16. The majority of disparities were explained by economic status, place of residence, and type of health services.
conclusionOOP payment on medicine accounted for the majority of total health expenses in Ethiopia. A high medicine OOP payment continued to push households into catastrophic payments and impoverishment. Household seeking inpatient care, those with lower economic status and urban residents were among the most affected. Hence, innovative approaches to improve the supply of medicines in public facilities especially those in urban settings and risk protection mechanisms for medicine expenditures particularly for inpatient care are recommended.
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