Financial burden of malaria treatment by households in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Malaria poses risk for 97% of Nigeria’s population while the remaining 3% of the population live in the malaria free highlands. The Federal Ministry of Health estimated financial loss due malaria and put it at ₦32 Billion per annum with the largest share from the northern geopolitical zone. This figure is particularly huge for a region where poverty stare her people at face. Hence, the financial burden of malaria treatment by households in northern Nigeria was investigated. The Harmonized Nigeria Living Standard Survey (HNLSS, 2010) data was used. The direct cost of malaria treatment on individual such as the direct spending on treating malaria and number of work days lost to incapacitation while income loss represents the indirect cost. The study profiled the incidence, estimated the direct and indirect cost of treatment, and compared the financial burden of malaria treatment within the study area. The direct cost of treatment steeps lowest at the rural sector occupied mostly by farmers estimated at ₦311.18 while the non-farm occupation incurred the highest direct cost estimated at ₦1246.11. Similarly, the least direct cost of treatment by sectors was evident in the rural sector estimated at ₦475.73. The number of days and income loss by the sick person and the care-givers were 3.46days and 3.15days respectively while the lowest income loss in these days were valued at ₦1933.86 and ₦2739.20 respectively. The estimated financial burden rose from 1.15% and 1.96%. The study therefore recommended the strengthening of the “Roll Back Malaria Project”.

Keywords: Direct Costs, Financial burden, Harmonized Nigeria Living Standard Survey, Indirect Costs, Poverty

Afr. J. Biomed. Res. Vol. 22 (January, 2019); 11- 18