The determinants of health care utilisation in rural Senegal

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Periodical article

Title:	The determinants of health care utilisation in rural Senegal
Authors:	Lépine, Aurélia Le Nestour, Alexis
Year:	2013
Periodical:	Journal of African Economies (ISSN 0963-8024)
Volume:	22
Issue:	1
Pages:	163-186
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Senegal
Subjects:	health care access to health care health financing
External link:	https://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/1/163.full.pdf
Abstract:	In the context of the national debate on the extension of health insurance to farming households in Senegal, information on 504 households and 18 public primary health care (PHC) facilities was collected to analyse health care utilization in an area where people live on 1.17 US dollars per day and where only 6 percent have health insurance coverage. Despite the high level of poverty, 84 percent of the individuals sought treatment from a qualified health provider during their last illness. The high rate of utilization in the area is found to be attributable to the characteristics of the PHC facilities. Indeed, PHC facilities are highly accessible and offer good medical services at a low price. The low price of medical services in the sample explains why the demand for curative care is found to be price-inelastic. This latter result suggests that policies that will reduce the price of medical services to increase health care use are not likely to be effective. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]