Willingness to pay for hepatitis B virus vaccine and associated factors among households in Bahir Dar City, northwest Ethiopia: using contingent valuation method

Abstract

BackgroundThe prevention of disease burden and death through vaccination is one of the most cost-effective methods. Even though the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) has significant public health problems in Ethiopia, there is no compulsory HBV vaccination program for adults and the vaccine's market value was not yet estimated in the Ethiopia context. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the willingness to pay (WTP) for the HBV vaccine and its associated factors among households in Bahir Dar City, northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 620 households from March 1 to 30, 2020. A systematic random sampling technique was employed to select the required number of households. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect the necessary information. The contingent valuation method was conducted to measure WTP for the HBV vaccine. A Tobit regression model was employed to investigate significantly associated factors, and variables with a p-value of <0.05 were considered statistically significant.ResultsIn this study, 62.17% of households were willing to pay for the HBV vaccine with an average cost of ETB174.24 (US$5.25). Male household heads (P = 0.014), favorable attitude (P = 0.017), and good knowledge (P < 0.001) toward the vaccine were positively associated with WTP, whereas age (P < 0.001), single marital status (P = 0.012) and divorced/widowed (P = 0.018) marital status were negatively associated with WTP.ConclusionsOverall, most households were willing to pay for the HBV vaccine with an average demand of ETB174.24 (US$5.25). Therefore, a national-level HBV vaccine strategy should be designed considering the households' willingness to pay. In addition, working on attitudes and knowledge toward the vaccine could potentially increase the household's willingness to pay for the HBV vaccine.

Comparison of the effectiveness four years after Homo/Hetero prime-boost with 10 μg HP and 20 μg CHO recombinant hepatitis B vaccine at 1 and 6 months in maternal HBsAg-negative children

“…The proportions of anti-HBs concentration (100 ≤ anti-HBs < 1000 mIU/ml) in the 10 μg HP-10 μg HP and 20 μg CHO-20 μg CHO groups gradually increased, further demonstrating that the antibody levels of anti-HBs derived from 20μg HepB-CHO were superior to those from 10μg HepB-HP, consistent with the above study. Research has shown that working on attitudes and knowledge about the vaccine could potentially increase household willingness to pay for HepB ( 27 ). 20μg HepB-CHO was a self-pay vaccine, and 85.83% of children in our study received 20μg HepB-CHO at the Kecheng vaccination clinic, which was associated with improved attitudes and knowledge about vaccines in the main urban area of Kecheng district.…”