University of Nigeria Reports Findings in Health Services (Factors Associated With Coverage of Health Insurance Among Women in Malawi): Health and Medicine – Health Services

2023 MAR 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Health and Medicine - Health Services is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Nsukka, Nigeria, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Access to healthcare for the vulnerable groups including women has long been a theme encouraged worldwide from the first general assembly on health to the current sustainable development goals. Despite many countries having a free public healthcare system, there are inequalities in access to care and significant out-of-pocket spending, pushing most women into poverty against the principles of universal health coverage.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Nigeria, “Coverage of Malawian women with health insurance is poor; thus, there is limited cushioning and high risk of poverty, as women bear costs of care as primary caregivers. There is need to explore determinants of coverage of health insurance among women in Malawi to inform health policy. This study was quantitative in nature, using cross-sectional secondary data from the 2015 to 2016 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey involving women aged between 15 and 49 years. We assessed factors associated with insurance coverage by comparing women with and without insurance schemes using binary logistic regression. Analysis was done using STATA statistical package version 13. The analysis included a total of 24,562 women with a mean age of 28 SD (9.3). Of these cases, 1.5% had health insurance. High education attainment, occupation, and wealth were significantly associated with health insurance ownership, with all having -values of < 0.01. On the other hand, a woman’s residence, marital status, and who heads a household were not associated with ownership of health insurance significantly. Education, occupation, and wealth have a key role in influencing a woman’s choice in owning health insurance.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This informs policymakers and health insurance providers on how best to approach women’s health financing and factors to target in social security programs and health insurance products that speak to women’s needs and capacity.”

For more information on this research see: Factors Associated With Coverage of Health Insurance Among Women in Malawi. Frontiers in Health Services, 2022;2:780550.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Benjamin S. C. Uzochukwu, Dept. of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. Additional authors for this research include Margaret Chauluka and Jobiba Chinkhumba.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.3389/frhs.2022.780550. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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