Policy Briefs
Measures to Protect Poor Sudanese Households from the Risks of Catastrophic Health Expenditures
No.
28
Date
August, 2017
Topic
I3. Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
- Due to the absence of universal health insurance coverage in Sudan, particularly among poor, out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditure consumes a high portion from households’ incomes forcing them to cut budget’s shares allocated to education, food and other items.
- Cutting expenditures on such necessary items pushes huge numbers of households, mainly those who live in a situation close to poverty, into extreme poverty with its all undesirable consequences.
- Based on National Baseline Household Survey (2009), the evidence proves that factors such as households’ income, high illness rates, education, household’s size, number of elderly and children among household’s members and distance to healthcare providers increase households’ OOP health expenditures.
- Based on these facts, many policy actions can be proposed in order to protect households from being victimized by catastrophic OOP health expenditures. These actions include lowering illness rates; accommodating poor population under health insurance umbrella, reducing patients’ transportation costs and preserving good health status by enlighten people about the benefits that can be generated from implementing preventive measures.
Research Associates
Ebaidalla Mahjoub Ebaidalla
Associate Professor, Faculty of Economic and Social...