Researchers at Mzumbe University Release New Study Findings on Health Services Research [Health insurance and health system (un) responsiveness: a qualitative study with elderly in rural Tanzania]: Health and Medicine – Health Services Research

Insurance Daily News

2021 NOV 10 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A new study on health services research is now available. According to news reporting originating from Mzumbe University by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Health insurance (HI) has increasingly been accepted as a mechanism to facilitate access to healthcare in low and middle-income countries. However, health insurance members, especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa, have reported a low responsiveness in health systems.”

Funders for this research include Styrelsen for Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete; Umea University.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Mzumbe University: “This study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of healthcare services from the perspective of insured and uninsured elderly in rural Tanzania. An explanatory qualitative study was conducted in the rural districts of Igunga and Nzega, located in western-central Tanzania. Eight focus group discussions were carried out with 78 insured and uninsured elderly men and women who were purposely selected because they were 60 years of age or older and had utilised healthcare services in the past 12 months prior to the study. The interview questions were inspired by the domains of health systems’ responsiveness. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. Elderly participants appreciated that HI had facilitated the access to healthcare and protected them from certain costs. But they also complained that HI had failed to provide equitable access due to limited service benefits and restricted use of services within schemes. Although elderly perspectives varied widely across the domains of responsiveness, insured individuals generally expressed dissatisfaction with their healthcare.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The national health insurance policy should be revisited in order to improve its implementation and expand the scope of service coverage. Strategic decisions are required to improve the healthcare infrastructure, increase the number of healthcare workers, ensure the availability of medicines and testing facilities at healthcare centers, and reduce long administrative procedures related to HI. A continuous training plan for healthcare workers focused on patients´ communication skills and care rights is highly recommended.”

For more information on this research see: Health insurance and health system (un) responsiveness: a qualitative study with elderly in rural Tanzania. BMC Health Services Research, 2021,21(1):1-11. (BMC Health Services Research - http://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com). The publisher for BMC Health Services Research is BMC.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-07144-2.

Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Paul Joseph Amani, Department of Health Systems Management, School of Public Administration and Management, Mzumbe University. Additional authors for this research include Anna-Karin Hurtig, Gasto Frumence, Angwara Denis Kiwara, Isabel Goicolea, Miguel San Sebastian.