Economic Costs of Podoconiosis in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Tekola, Fasil (2005) Economic Costs of Podoconiosis in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.

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Abstract

Podoconiosis is endemic non-filarial elephantiasis mostly affecting barefootedrural farmers in countries of tropical Africa, Central and South America, North India, Cameroon and Sri Lanka. In Ethiopia the condition is more prevalent than any other African country. In areas of red clay soil the disease is common mainly in the economically active age group. Even so, little attention has been given to it and there have not been any studies on the economic burden of podoconiosis. The overall objective of this study was to estimate podoconiosis-related direct and productivity costs in Wolaitta zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia. The study was undertaken in Wolaitta zone, SNNPR, using quantitative matched comparative cross-sectional study complemented by qualitative key informants' interview on 702 study subjects. Cost estimation was based on the societal perspective for cost analysis, the human capital approach to estimate productivity losses and the prevalence-based model as a time frame. Data were entered into EPI-INFO V.6 and exported to SPSS V.11 for matched pair analysis. The opportunity cost of time lost by patients and care-takers accounted for the major component (72.1%) of patient-side cost. The average patient-side cost was 97.6 Birr (US$ 11.35) per patient. The actual out-of-pocket expenses over the three months period form 6% of the overall quarterly expenditure of households of the studied patients per annum. When projected over one year, the total direct costs amount to 1233.40 Birr (US$ 143.42) per patient. It was also found that most patients did not completely stop work, but spent only 3.56 ± 2.87 hours per day on economic activity compared to 6.52±2.53 hours worked by controls (p<0.001). Female patients spent 3.45 hours less on domestic activity compared to their matched controls (p<0.001). The total productivity cost comes to 538.86 Birr (US$ 62.658) per patient per year. Regression analyses revealed that total absenteeism and total working hours spent on economic activity were significantly influenced by the presence of the disease and by sex. The presence of the disease and household expenditure significantly influenced total absenteeism from domestic work. In addition, the presence of disease, marital status and 'kebele' type significantly determined the number of hours spent on domestic work. Based on the results, some recommendations were forwarded.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	R Medicine > R Medicine (General) R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Divisions:	Africana
Depositing User:	Vincent Mpoza
Date Deposited:	28 Jun 2018 14:16
Last Modified:	28 Jun 2018 14:16
URI:	http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/6189

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