The interface between payment for health service and Karimojong women's health seeking behaviour
Résumé
This study investigates how payment and payment terms1 in the formal and in-formal sector affects women's choice of health provider in Karamoja, and why use of in-formal health care providers are the first choice for many Karimojong women. The main objective of the study was to explore the inter-related factors that shape women's health seeking behavior in Karamoja, with particular emphasis on the role that user fees play in the process.
Like women in most parts of the world, Karimojong women have, compared to men, access to a smaller share of critical resources, including resources needed for health care. Access to resources and control over resources in the household impact on the ability to pay for health services and on the choice of health care option. Payment for health services in the formal sector is, in contrast to the in-formal sector, normally characterized by up-front payment without possibilities for exemptions, credit, payment in installments, or payment in kind. Proximity of formal health care facilities with appropriate payment structures does not in itself guarantee that women will use the formal system as the first point of entry into the health care system outside the family. Co-operation between the different categories of health providers are therefore a necessity to ensure provision of affordable basic health care to rural Karimojong women. The traditional gender roles for men and women, which hinder equal access to health care and place responsibility for health care largely on women need to be addressed. Gender Officers in the districts should be actively involved in promotion of equal health for all by arranging sensitization meetings in villages, as poor health status is linked to gender specific roles and to the fact that the discrimination against women in terms of access to resources hinder women's access to health services.
Fichier principal
THE INTERFACE BETWEEN PAYMENT FOR HEALTH SERVICES AND KARIMOJONG WOMEN'S HEALTH SEEKING BEHAVIOUR.pdf (7.95 Mo)
Télécharger le fichier
Loading...