జర్నల్ ఆఫ్ ట్రాపికల్ డిసీజెస్ & పబ్లిక్ హెల్త్

నైరూప్య

Community Based Health Insurance Enrollment and Associated Factors in Sidama Region, Ethiopia

Berhanu Bifato*, Amanuel Ayele, Muse Rike, Dalecha Dangura

Background: Community-based health insurance is accepted as a capable tool of health system improvement and improves the health status of enrollees. Its mechanisms look to protect lowincome households from health-related risks through mutual risk-sharing at the community level. Even though the Government’s effort, the Community based health insurance enrolment rate remained low.

Objective: To assess the community-based health insurance enrollment and associated factors in Sidama Region, Ethiopia.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Sidama Region, by using a pretested structured questionnaire. The study was conducted in randomly selected 770 households. The data entry were made by using Epi-info 2007 software. The data was analyzed by using SPSS version 22. Logistic regression statistical model was used to compute the odds ratio with its 95% confidence interval to test the associations between dependent and independent variables. Then variables found to have p<0.25 in the bi-variable analysis were taken as candidates for multivariable analysis. A p-value of 0.05 with a confidence interval of 95% was used to declare level of statistical significance.

Results: Among 770 sampled households, 762 were interviewed and the response rate was 98.9%. About 20.2% of the respondents were enrolled in the scheme. Covariates such as: ages 31-59 years (AOR :2.62, 95% CI :1.48-4.66) and ≥ 60 years (AOR: 2.87, 95% CI:1.23-6.74), households who had no formal education (AOR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.02-2.72), affordability of premium (AOR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.15-0.54), knowledge on CBHI (AOR: 3.53; 95% CI: 1.21, 10.27) and perceived quality (AOR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.25-0.87) had statistically significant association with community based health insurance enrollment.

Conclusion: The prevalence of community-based health insurance enrollment was low. This study identified the need to create knowledge and bring behavioral change in the community on the scheme in general. This study also revealed that the regular contribution issue needs improvement based on affordability of households and building their trust on the program and efforts should be devoted to enhancing the quality of healthcare services to increase enrollment.