Article Sidebar
Published:
Feb 7, 2024Keywords:
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Manuscripts submitted to the journal must be original, must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. In addition, they should not have been previously published (except as an abstract or preliminary report). Articles which have been accepted for publication must not be published elsewhere without the consent of the AJHE editorial board.
Main Article Content
Advantages and shortcomings of eliciting people’s willingness to pay using mixed techniques: evidence from a study of Olyset bednets in three village settings in north-eastern Tanzania
Abstract
Introduction: Agencies aiming to subsidize insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in poverty striken and at risk communities face a critical question about desirable price to fix per ITN without crowding-out the market of commercialized nets. Willingness to pay (WTP) studies help in establishing evidence on consumers’ preferences to various products marketed.
Objective: To describe the advantages and shortcomings of a study that employed different techniques to elicit community WTP for Olyset bednets in three villages in north-east Tanzania
Methodology: Questionnaires comprising closed-ended and open-ended questions were applied, targeting adult members of households and bednet retailers. Also, focus group discussions (FGDs) with household members were held.
Results: Different elicitation techniques suggested different prices per Olyset net depending on the way the questions were applied and characteristics of study participants and conditions in which they were found. While it may seem a limitation to apply different techniques and coming up with different answers regarding the suggested optimal price of a product, we learn that consumers often value same product differently due to either their different: perceptions on it or information obtained from the market or their ability to pay. The stated WTP price per an Olyset bednet partly depended on the existing price of polyester nets quoted in the retail outlets which ranged between shillings 2500 and 4,500 while that quoted/fixed for the Olyset net under study was shillings 3,500. Olyset nets were preferred to polyester ones due to their long-lasting polyethylene fabric material, blue colour and insecticide treated in them. Paying by instalment for Olyset nets was more preferred to paying a full price at once.
Conclusion: Olyset nets have potential to attract many people if marketed carefully with reasonable prices informed by research and made physically accessed, especially in the market already dominated by polyester nets.
