Oral Status and Financial Accessibility to the Care of the Beneficiaries of the General Mutual of Officials and Agents of Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

In many developing countries, the establishment of insurance mechanisms is recommended to remove the financial barrier related to access to care. In Côte d'Ivoire, the General Mutual of State Employees and Agents (Mugefci) pursues this objective. However, concerns remain about the ability of this prepayment mechanism alone to ensure effective consumption of oral health care. The purpose of this paper, which is to contribute to the optimal use of insurance mechanisms, was to assess the accessibility of the oral health care of Mugefci beneficiaries. The cross-sectional study, which was conducted by the Medical Service for Civil Servants, concerned Mugefci beneficiaries who had come for medical consultation. The data collected included decayed tooth indices, absent due to caries or obturated, the DMF index, the time of the recourse and the reasons for giving up dental care as well as the willingness to pay for the care. The numbers and frequencies related to these variables have been calculated. 216 Mugefci beneficiaries participated in the study. The prevalence of caries was 50.9%, with a DMF index of 4.2. Self-medication was the first therapeutic remedy (47.7%) and 18.1% of beneficiaries reported that they had given up care due to lack of money. 47.2% of beneficiaries had a poor perception of dental care. The study showed that the existence of health insurance does not guarantee effective access to care. The availability of a quality care offer, the improvement of insurance coverage and the information of the beneficiaries about the services offered are factors to be taken into account to ensure effective consumption of oral health care.