What determines healthcare utilization and related out-of-pocket expenditures in Tajikistan? Lessons from a national survey

Abstract

Linking receipt of the package with targeted social assistance and development of Community Based social insurance scheme can improve accessibility and affordability of healthcare.

Women's autonomy and reproductive health care utilisation: Empirical evidence from Tajikistan

“…Women from wealthier households are more likely to use health services compared to women living in poorer households [25,28,29]. It implies although reproductive health services are free-of-charge in principle in Tajikistan, the existence of informal user charges for health services hampers many women living in poorer households from accessing to necessary health services [30][31][32][33]. Furthermore, the lack of a water grid in the household is negatively correlated with women's access to health facilities for birth-delivery, probably because women from households without a water grid have to spend more time to get drinking water [25,29].…”

Does Life Satisfaction Determine Subjective Health?

“…Indeed, previous studies found that being in the lower strata of income distribution in transitional countries is associated with lower rate of healthcare utilization when needed, lower propensity of prescribed medication usage, higher share of households budget paid for unofficial out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure including bribes, and lower likelihood of using modern diagnostic and specialized services (Habibov 2009a;b;Habibov 2010). Consequently, a wide gap between poor and rich in relationship to cardiovascular, STD, and infectious diseases, as well as mortality and pregnancy outcomes, is currently observed in transitional countries (Bobak et al 2000;Fan & Habibov 2009b;Jakubowski and Arnaudova 2009).…”

The inequity in out-of-pocket expenditures for healthcare in Tajikistan: evidence and implications from a nationally representative survey

“…Based on the experiences of other low-income transitional countries, this current study has identified two possible approaches to alleviating the negative impacts of OPE (Habibov 2009b). The first would be the creation of a nation-wide Basic Benefits Package through which certain conditions and procedures would be either fully or partly subsidized by the state budget to protect the poorest groups within the population from high level of OPE.…”