COVID-19-related catastrophic health expenditure and multidimensional poverty in Ghana: further discussions 20 years after implementing a social health insurance policy
Senior Lecturer and Head of Graduate Studies, Dr. Martin Ayanore, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana
External Seminars General Seminar Series Seminars
Thursday, 30 May 2024, 2pm to 3pm
Date and time: Thursday 30 May 2024, 14:00 hours (2.00 pm UK BST)
Location: L1 Main Meeting Room, Richard Doll Building, Old Road Campus, Headington, OX3 7LF
To Join: This is a free event, which will be taking place both in-person and online via Zoom/Microsoft Teams. Register
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the welfare of households in Ghana. Despite this, evidence on the catastrophic effect of the pandemic on the expenditure of households remains limited post the pandemic. This study examined catastrophic health expenditure (CHEs) payments during the COVID-19 pandemic among Ghanaian households and examines what drives the payments. The data for catastrophic payment incidence (Hcat) reveals that on average, 52.2% of households spent 5% of their total household expenditures on COVID-19-related health expenditures, showing that more than half of our sample experienced catastrophic payments. Our empirical results show that multidimensional poverty exacerbated catastrophic payments during the pandemic. Our analysis shows multidimensionally poor households experienced a higher burden of catastrophic healthcare payments. We found insurance, remittances, and government assistance to mitigate the effects of CHE shock during the pandemic. Data 20 years after social health insurance reveal a positive effect of insurance on CHEs cumulatively.
Bio: Dr. Martin Ayanore is a Senior Lecturer and Head of Graduate Studies, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana. He holds a PhD in Health Economics from Maastricht University. He has held several research visits abroad in the past: visiting professor to Queen's University, Canada, a two-time John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Fall Fellow, and a visiting research scientist to the Royal College of Physician of Ireland, Dublin among others. Martin is visiting Oxford as a recipient of the 2023 AfOx Catalyst Grant awardee. He is working with Prof. Philip Clarke on a joint project to determine better measures for evaluating inequality and inequities in sub-Saharan Africa.